Albus Severus Potter: the secret of the basilisk
by blitzer99
Summary: Albus Severus Potter is finally going to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, but is it all that its cracked up to be? what secrets will be discovered? And why are he and his brother hearing voices in their heads? Sorry, suck at summerys. rated k Plus for violence and possible blood.
1. Prologue

**Authors note: **Hello everyone, for all of you that have been reading my other stories, I'm sorry to say they are gonna be on a bit of a break for a while because I need to work on this while I still have the inspiration, but I shall finish them. If you have any questions about anything that doesn't seem to be right, always check the bottom of the page. I do not own anything except my OCs that will be coming later and the plot, and maybe not even that at certain points. Enjoy :D

**Prologue: a midnight spell**

Never...

Never in a million years did he, the famous Harry James Potter, the boy-who-lived, the boy who killed he-who-must-not-be-named. Never in a million years had he thought he would have what he always longed for, a family. And right at this minute, one of them had just woken up, screaming their head off.

Harry was a light sleeper, always was, so it came as no surprise when a sudden shriek from the room next door startled him awake. His bright green eyes darting around, looking for any sign of disturbance. The room he was in would have been almost completely white during the day, but what else could be expected of a hospital. He had been on an auror mission, pretty average, but a couple of direct hits with the Sectumsempra curse and one hit to the chest with a poorly done though still painful Fiendfyre. He had multiple slashes all over his body, which, if it hadn't been for the healers, would be still bleeding. And the most painful of all his newly acquired injuries, would be the burn mark across his chest, which you wouldn't see through all the white bandages that covered most of his body. The only parts of his body that weren't covered in the white fabric where his head, though only his face was visible, and his wand hand, with, thankfully, his wand on the desk next to it.

Harry began to regain his senses as he remembered he wasn't at home, he wasn't being attacked, his family wasn't being attacked, everything was fine. He laid back his head against the soft pillow, slowly turning his eyes to the right, where a clock was set up by one of the healers next to his wand. It was twelve midnight. The room he was in was almost completely black, the only source of light coming from the open curtain windows, shadows were nowhere in sight as he turned to the double open doors to the left. The scream had come from behind those doors, where at this point, his family resided. When he was put into the hospital, his family had come immediately to the blank room and smothered him in gentle hugs and worried words, they had refused to leave his side until there wasn't a choice, then they simply went into the waiting room and slept there. Instead of silence befalling the room like before the noise, if Harry strained his ears hard enough, he could hear soft whimpers being uttered from beyond the doors.

Harry came to the conclusion that one of his children had woken up, because it certainly wouldn't be his wife. Ginny rarely ever woke up screaming in the middle of the night, and even if she did, she literally never started whimpering. James was also a definite no, he slept like a rock. Harry had tried to wake him up early one morning when they were supposed to go to the park and would only wake up when Ginny had thought enough was enough and tipped a glass of water over him, and even then he was slow. Little Lilly crossed his mind but then he thought back to about a week ago. She had woken up and was screaming and whaling until Harry had come in and got her back to sleep, which took three hours, from what he could remember. That only left one person, Albus. The middle child, and usually, the level headed kid among his brother and sister, James being the prankster and Lily being the little hyper child of the family.

Harry's heart was close to breaking point, the whimpers he was hearing from the waiting room were starting to turn into sobs, his heart felt like it was being ripped to shreds. He'd hate to see any one of his children in this position, let alone hear it. He wished so badly, wished that he could run out that door, scoop up Albus in his arms and hold him close. And he tried, he tried to get up, tried to sit up and run down the hall and through the doors to where his distressed child was, but the pain held him down, it made sure that he wasn't getting out of that bed. Like a big cold hand pushing him down, he couldn't even call to him, every time he tried it only came out as a mere whisper. Harry felt useless, he couldn't get to him, and Albus would never come to him unless he called. Sometimes he was way too polite for his own good, he never came to him unless it was about another family member, always keeping his own concerns to himself, he was pretty complex for a four year old.

Harry then remembered his wand, but would he be able to do it? Hopefully he had enough energy to cast the spell, and he would need a lot of it if he could only whisper the incantation. But with his son in such a state what was he supposed to do? What father would he be if he just left his son out there to be alone in this state. Something had to be done. He lifted his right arm from his side, the pain kicked in as soon as his arm left its resting place. His hand closed around the rigid wood of the wand which he never parted with, then he pointed it to the right side of his bed, and whispered with a rasping voice.

"_Expecto Patronum"_

With those two words, silver slivers of light began to whisk themselves out of the tip of his wand, coiling and curling as if blown by an invisible gust. More and more slivers poured out of his wand, combining into a shape that grew bigger and bigger with more strands added to it. After what felt like a minute, what stood before him would have been breath taking to others. The ghostly light of the magnificent stag seemed to cascade around the room, the shadows that where absent before now danced across the floor and walls. It's form shimmed as in shook its head, showing off the big antlers that sat on it's head as it glowed like an oversized candle light in a pitch black room. Harry took a minute to listen, the sobs where still continuing past the doors. His heart wretched as though it was being tugged out of his chest, he couldn't stand it anymore. He pointed his wand to his forehead, silently thanking Ginny for helping him discover this little trick as he spoke the incantation, and without even a noise, his head fell back on the pillow and his wand fell from his grip, clattering on the floor as his arm fell and swung for a bit over the edge of the bed.

Anybody would have just thought he had used the killing curse on himself, but thankfully, this was not the case.

He had really performed the bewitching sleep charm, it turned out that one day a few days ago, he had been working in his office to around about the same time as now, and Ginny had walked in telling him to go to bed. He didn't listen to her and summoned a patronus to relay the newest information he had found on a criminal they were tracking to his brother in law and one of his best friends, Ron Weasley. But at that point, Ginny was literally on her last straw, and with that, cast the charm on him and he fell limp. But to Ginny's utter amazement and shock, instead of fading away, the patronus had begun to yell at her with her husband's voice, asking what she did, but right about then, the patronus noticed Harry's body lolling in his chair, and then asked with the most confused voice in the world "why am I sitting in that chair when I'm talking to you now?"

They had figured out that somehow, when Ginny had put Harry to sleep while his spell was still active, that somehow (yes they still haven't figured it out) seemed to transfer Harry's own consciousness into his patronus, making it solid and last longer, and Harry could still feel and sense things the same way any human would. But when this wears off, he is basically knocked into a dreamless sleep, only to wake up at the usual time he would when he had taken a nape or something of the sort. That was exactly what was happening now, Harry saw his own body laying on the bed he had been on just a second ago. It still gave him the shivers when he saw this, but he couldn't dwell on it now, he strained his ears again for his son's sobs. Sure enough, he heard him, the small noise still audible from the waiting room. Slowly, he turned on the four hooves he now had and began to walk to the double doors, even though he new that his patronus was solid, there was no sound made when his feet hit the floor. It didn't even feel like he was walking on all fours, it still felt like the way he would usually walk around. He came to the sandy brown wooden door and slowly pushed it open. It felt like he was using his hand to push it open and the patronus mimicked him in its own way, by using its antlers racked upon its head.

The head of the stag peered through the door slowly, cautious to not make a sound. As he suspected, his family was still there, almost all of them sleeping silently on the green leathered couch. Well, all save James who was snoring like there was no tomorrow with his feet over the arm rest on the far left side. A small pool of saliva on the right side of his lolling head, his dark brow hair even messier then it usually was. Ginny sat by James's head, her head also lolling to the right, through no snore escaped her red lips. It was still apparent that she wasn't waking up anytime soon. It seemed almost everyone in the family inherited being deep sleepers from there mother, or maybe just the Weasley family in general. Her red hair seemed to be hanging round to the right as well, and in her arms, was little two year old Lilly, her brownish red hair still pretty short as she nestled in between her arms, a brown blanket draped over the both of them, and James splayed out on the floor.

Harry inwardly smiled at the sight of his family, but then noticed that another blanket seemed to be hanging half way off the seat. Harry noticed the sobs again, definitely not needing to strain his ears this time. He turned his head to the far left of the couch, not there. Turned back to the far right, not with his family either. He turned around, and sure enough, by the double doors, with his legs pulled to his chest and his tiny little hands cuddled around a small toy lion and wearing his plain blue PJs and almost jet black hair, was Albus. Harry couldn't believe he didn't notice him, he couldn't believe that Albus didn't notice a glowing stag walk into the room! There was something definitely wrong. He moved a bit closer to see how bad it was. Pretty bad. His face was pretty obscured by him smothering it into the toy, but Harry could still make out tears rolling down his face, which made is heart ache.

"Albus?" he called, his voice no longer confined to a rasping whisper.

The young four year old stopped, though his sobs turned back to small whimpers. His gaze slowly fell on the shining stag as it edged a bit closer, which caused him to immediately back up against the wall with a small yelp. It was to be expected, even if you live with a family that performs magic day in and day out. You don't usually see a glowing silver stag walk up to you and start speaking.

Albus's face was red from crying, his green eyes wide open with fear as he clutched the toy lion harder, as he tried to move even further back against the wall. Harry didn't move another step, afraid that if he did he would just further terrify his already petrified son.

"Al, Al it's ok, it's just daddy, there's nothing to be afraid of" he said in a calming tone.

Albus seemed to to visibly relax a bit, loosening his grip on the stuffed toy. Though he still refused to move away from the wall.

"D-daddy?" he asked, his voice quivering in response.

"Are you alright? I heard you scream and-" he didn't even get a chance to finish as Albus shot off and hugged the shining form and let loose with more sobs. Harry bent down and hugged him, or at least, it's what it felt like he was doing. In reality the stag bent it's neck down and rested it on the four year olds back, pulling him closer to his body as the tears continued to pour down his face.

"Sh, sh, it's alright, your safe with me, what happened?" he asked as the patronus rubbed it's head across his back, which seemed to calm him down a considerable amount as he continued to whimper against the stag's body.

"I-I had a nightmare, I dreamt t-that a big man came into our house an-and you and mummy and James and Lilly where on the floor and you weren't moving and-and this red stuff was coming out of your neck and... And..." he stopped in his tracks as more sobs came, his body shaking with the memory as it played over and over in front of his eyes.

"Sh, it's ok, the man is gone and where all still here. There's nothing to be afraid of, your safe" Harry spoke as his son's sobs increased, they just stood there for a moment or two, Harry let his son's sobs continue as he held him tight, unwilling to let his son be alone in this state. It was a while before Albus spoke again.

"And t-then, he started laughing at me and said I-I'm useless and just wouldn't stop" he whimpered.

"It's alright, your perfectly safe with me, and your not useless"

"Yes I am"

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, I can't do magic. James and Lilly could both do it since they were one and I cant do anything" he exclaimed as he went back to sobbing, but that was when Harry had enough. He gently pried his son off him, then looked him in the eye as best as a silver stag could. His patronus's form reflected out through Al's bright green eyes. Those bright green eyes that so long ago, where his mother's. Many people said that he had his eyes, and it was true, every time he looked into his eyes he saw himself, and, of course, his mother too.

"Albus Severus Potter" he would use his full name when ever he started talking seriously "no matter what you hear, no matter what anyone says to you, no matter what... You are not useless, and you never will be, that I can promise you"

"R-Really?" he asked as the tears seemed to stop.

"Yes son, really. Never, and don't you ever think twice about what I'm saying now, because I will not hear of it, you are in no way useless"

For a moment, Albus just looked into the stag's silver glowing eyes, trying to process what his dad had just said. He felt so, happy, all the fear and sadness from moments ago just melted under his fathers words. Never in his short life that he's lived so far had he felt like this, though he still found it hard to believe. The stag looked at him with a loving gaze, then slowly reached forward, and nuzzled his cheek with its snout. Harry watched with utter joy as a small smile broke across his son's face and more tears poured down as he came out of his trance, he leaned into the touch, and after a few moments of this, Albus flung his arms out around its neck and and embraced the shining being in a hug.

They stood there for a while, they didn't know and they didn't care, but after a while, Albus couldn't feel anything for a moment, like he was holding nothing but air. Albus opened his eyes from where he stood, nothing, there was nothing there, no giant silver stag standing there glowing magnificently, nothing. Albus began to panic as he looked around, eyes darting everywhere looking for a glimpse of silver. His eyes finally fell on the double doors that lead to where his father had been resting, and with that, as fast as his short legs could carry him, burst through the double doors, falling flat on his face in the process.

"Albus?"

Albus would have started crying again if he hadn't heard that voice. The voice that he had heard only moments ago. He looked up from where he had laid. His joy came back with full force in three seconds flat, the very middle bed from where his father had been recuperating in, sat the very person who didn't even have it in him to speak a moment ago, was his dad.

"Daddy!" was all that left his mouth before he ran to him and jumped into his arms, very nearly making him fall back down as he held his middle son in a close embrace and chuckled to himself.

"I don't think we need to worry about you not being able to do magic" he stated with a wide grin.

"How come?" he asked, still not giving up the hug as he snuggled closer to his chest, his toy lion that he had been holding now resting on the floor, all but forgotten.

"Well other than the fact that you were hugging me out in the waiting room and now I'm suddenly able to sit up and talk normally, try lifting your left hand"

He gave his father a puzzled look before complying to the request, and there, where his tiny hand had just been, was one of the many cuts he had a second ago, disappearing before his green eyes. When it was all gone, he turned back to his dad, completely speech less and mouth a gape.

This only lasted a minute before he was grinning ear to ear, tears of complete and utter joy rushing down his face like there was no tomorrow. And with that, the cheers began, they cheered for who knows how long before Ginny and the others walked in. Or rather James walked in and Ginny carried Lilly in her arms. After Harry explained to Ginny what happened, James only hearing the part with the patronus and Albus being able to do magic. After that, everyone started cheering and congratulating Albus in there happiest voices. Even Lilly seemed to know what was going on as she kept chanting "Albi, Albi, Albi!" like the parade was on.

The very next day resulted in them going to the ice-cream parlour (not the muggle one of course) to celebrate. For the rest of the day, Albus, James and Lilly couldn't stop bouncing off the walls.

**Authors note: **as promised, explanations are right here. First for the whole patronus thing, that I can't really explain too well on how it happens, but I can explain the new ups and downs to this.

Ups: when this effect is, well, in effect, the casters consciousness is transferred into their patronus, giving it a lot more power and the effect of being solid. This also results in them being able to control it a lot better and the time of how long the spell is active is no longer hindered by focus on that happy memory (though you still need that happy memory to conjure the patronus in the first place)

Downs: this effect, even though not hindered by the happy memory, only lasts an hour (though one can build up there magical energy to make it last longer). When the effect wears off, the caster will be knocked into a state of dreamless sleep for up to the same amount of time.

The last down is that the patronus can no longer go through walls or windows or anything because it is now solid (though it can still fly)

Now for Albus's first little bit of magic, well it seems to me after watching the movie a continuous amount of times, that the first bit of magic is caused by a very strong bit of emotion from the candidate, which in Albus's case was, happiness. We should also remember that the first use of magic often ends up being random or a certain situation. In this case, it was sort of both, the magical energy built up by the emotion flowed into the person that caused this emotion to occur, in the case, Harry's patronus.

When the hour was up, Harry's consciousness went back to his body, with the magic in tow, which resulted in Harry's early awakening, and the healing of his wounds, and when Albus put his hand on one of those wounds, seeing as the magical energy came from him, the effect was increased and went more quickly.

Well I must have sounded like a total nerd right there but what the heck. Hope you like this and there will be more to come hopefully soon. Till then, see ya! :D


	2. Chapter 1: Early Morning Falls

**Authors note: **hello people! Time to continue this fanfic, now for a little note. I will be using some aspects from the book, and one from the movie epilogue. As always, if anything confuses you, check the bottom of the page. I don't own Harry potter, that go's to the author of it whose name escapes me at this moment. Now, enjoy :D

**Chapter 1: early morning falls?**

Six thirty in the morning, not really a time in which most would be up, but nobody can really get much sleep when it's there birthday, can they?

This was what it was like for Albus this fine early morning. Golden rays of sunlight started to break through the gaps in the cream coloured curtains. Resting in a small red blanketed bed, his usually straight black hair now sticking up in all directions, as his bright green eyes fluttered open, was Albus Severus Potter. He rolled to his left, desperately trying to get the sleep he craved, though unfortunately for him, another ray of sunshine had struck his bed where his eye was now. The ray stung his eye as he gave a yelp and bolted upright, his hands now furiously rubbing his eyes. He blinked for a moment before memory's from the previous night came rushing back to him, and with one unforgettable thought creeping back into his mind, he leapt off the bed.

His feet carried him to the closet were he whipped the door open. His mum had been kind enough to bewitch his closet so it knew what cloths to get out. A plain red t-shirt, his favourite blue and dark blue striped long sleeved shirt, blackish blue jeans, two white socks and his sneakers came floating out from where they were hung. He quickly traded in his red and gold PJs for the new attire, then quickly but quietly made his way out into the bathroom. The big wide mirror reflected his state as he looked, he then proceeded to tap a drawer with his index finger where a plain black comb came flying into his hand. He quickly combed his hair back into its usually neat form on his head, making sure to brush his fringe to the left. He tapped the drawer again and the brush flew out of his hand and back into the drawer, where a tooth brush and some tooth past came out. He brushed his teeth as quickly as humanly possible and then let the items fly out of his hand and back into the drawer.

He tip toed quietly past his parents room, then his brothers, then finally past Lilly's room, continuing to creep down the stairs as quietly as his feet would allow him. As he came to the kitchen, he looked around the kitchen table as he took a seat in one of the dark brown wooden chairs. There, set up on the middle of the table was a vase with some of the most beautiful roses Albus had ever seen. Though what he was looking for wasn't there, he couldn't help but stare at the beautiful petals that adorned the delicate flower. So entranced by its beauty, he didn't notice that the flowers began to gently twirl in the vase as if blown by a miniature breeze, which wasn't possible due to there being no opened window.

"I will never get how you do that"

Albus whirled around in his seat, and as soon as his gaze left the flower, it stopped spinning. Behind him, just finishing the last few steps of the stair case, was his little sister, Lilly Luna Potter in her pink night-gown. She came around the table and opened one of the cupboards, taking out box with the words "Choco Dragon Crisps" plastered to it. She then tapped two compartments that opened up to have a bowl from the first and a spoon from the second to set themselves neatly on the mahogany table, as the girl got milk from the fridge and set herself in a chair opposite to her brother.

"Happy birthday Albi" she said using the nickname she used since she was two.

Albus replied with; "what are you doing up? It's six thirty in the morning"

"Yeh, that's the way to greet your sister that just said happy birthday to you"

"Sorry, and thanks, but seriously"

"Your not the only early riser in this household, and I heard you coming down the hallway. So, I brushed my teeth, came down to find you twirling flowers, and here we are" she stated as she poured the milk into the cereal filled bowl. Albus nodded in approval of what he had been told and went on to look out the windowed slide door, sighing heavily as the sun continued its path up into the sky. Lilly followed his gaze with her brown eyes, then seemed to realise what he was thinking.

"Letter still hasn't come yet?" she asked, turning her gaze back to her brother as she scooped up some cereal and began to eat.

"Yeh, I thought that it would be here by now, hope it comes soon" he stated as he turned his emerald gaze back to his sister, slumping his head down into his palms, his elbows now resting on the table.

He had thought his Hogwarts letter of acceptance would have arrived by now, Albus had been waiting almost all night or it. His parents had assured him that it might come in the morning. He slumped even further, trying desperately to think of what had happened to his letter, had it gotten lost? Misplaced? This sudden feeling of weightlessness wasn't really helping... Weightlessness?

Albus looked down, he was maybe a metre or two from where he was sitting, his feet completely off the floor as he looked down at his sister, though Lilly acted as if it was completely normal. Well to be fair, at least for Albus, it kinda was.

"Morning Albus" a voice uttered from behind him.

With that said, Albus was then flipped upside down in mid air, now looking on at his father's face, a kind smile plastered across it. Albus couldn't help but smile back, Harry had done this for him ever since he could remember, and he loved it. Just the feeling of being able to fly, even if it was only his dad using the levitation charm. James had told him it was childish, but he did not care, he knew that one day he probably wasn't going to enjoy it anymore, so that only made him enjoy it now even more.

With a flick of his wand, which now resided in Harry's hand, Albus was flipped right-side up and into his arms in a hug. They were like this for a minute or so, just holding each other in a warm embrace. Lilly didn't mind, she was used to seeing this father-son exchange often, it was nice to see them happy, so she didn't comment like no doubt their brother would. Harry put his son down & ruffled his middle son's tidy hair.

"Happy birthday Albus" he finally said as his son looked up and smiled at him.

"So are you just gonna hog all the hugs or do I get one?" a voice asked as Harry turned his gaze around, Ginny stood there in her own red night gown, smiling as Albus shot past his dad and hugged her. She bent down and kindly returned the gesture with a kiss on his forehead and a hug of her own.

"Morning daddy" Lilly spoke up with a mouthful of food.

"Morning pumpkin, how'd you sleep?" he questioned with a kind tone as he turned his gaze to his youngest child.

"Pretty good, you?"

"Fine thank you"

Ginny let go of Albus and walked over to her husband and rapt her arms around him, leaning over his shoulder and gave a peck on the cheek while doing so. Albus walked back over to his seat and sat down, looking back over his shoulder at his parents. Harry looked back over his shoulder and gently placed his lips against hers. Albus rolled his eyes at the gesture while Lilly decided that a more drastic approach was needed.

"Mummy, daddy, I'm sorry that I need to tell you this but, get a room!" she exclaimed, trying very hard not to laugh at her own comment.

The two parents couldn't help but chuckle at the remark, deciding that later would be the time for more of that and entered the kitchen. Ginny began to make coffee while Harry sat down at the head of the table, but then noticed that something seemed to be missing.

"Wheres the daily prophet?" he asked, the whole family just shrugged.

"Maybe it's still coming" Ginny suggested as she poured the milk into her mug. Harry turned back to his children and noticed Albus staring out the window again.

"The letter still hasn't come yet?" he asked, Al just sighed.

Lilly seemed to be looking around too, her brown gazed fell on to her father as she sighed too.

"Guess who's still not up" she stated in a annoyed fashion "care to make a wager?"

"Depends on what it is" he answered.

"Three knuts says that James is gonna come down before the daily prophet gets here"

"You do realise its not gonna happen?"

"I have a hunch"

"Ok, fine, sorry that I'll be needing to take money from my own daughter" he agreed as he shook his daughters tiny hand. Ginny chuckled to herself as she sat to the right of her husband, Al was still gazing out of the door.

"Dad, your loosing money to a little girl, your seriously loosing your touch"

The family's turned there gaze back to the steps, where a fully dressed James Serious Potter (even though he was never serious), he stood there in his long sleeved shirt, grey jumper, plane belt, blue jeans and black trainers. His casual sarcastic grin plastered across his face as he looked over the room with his childish brown eyes. His black hair seemed to be sticking up more then it usually did in the mornings as he came down the last step.

"Morning my good family!" he exclaimed as he spread his arms out wide to emphasise the point.

"Morning James, how'd you sleep?" asked Ginny as she sipped at her coffee.

"Oh, great, best sleep I ever had in my life!" he said sarcastically as he strutted over to the table.

"Very funny" She stated while rolling her eyes in annoyance, he was like this almost every morning. He moved behind Albus's seat and without warning, clamped his hand down on his shoulder, making him yelp in surprise as he fell to the floor with a thud. James laughed his guts out at the sight as Albus groaned on the floor, his right hand rubbing the back of his head as a small bruise started to form. Ginny shot him a glare and Harry just gave a sigh, having obviously seen this many times before. James put his hands in the air in a mock surrender, though his sarcastic smile still adorned his face.

"What did I do, would you rather an Albus that stares out the window all day, or rather our normal goodie goodie Albus. I just un-tranced him, so give me a break would ya!" he answered defensively and turned back to his injured brother "anyway, I need to talk to you"

"So lightly taping my shoulder and talking to me never crossed your mind!" he shot as his hand grabbed the end of the table and hauled himself up off the floor.

"I need to talk to you in _private_" he stated again, I mild tone of seriousness entered his voice, and if there was seriousness in his voice, then something was definitely up. Albus believed him immediately, because James was literally. Almost. Never. Serious!

"Er, um... Ok" was all Albus could mange as he got up from the floor, still rubbing his head from the pain.

"Good, let's go to my office" he continued as he walked back up the stairs, all the tension in his voice absent. Albus turned his head back to Lilly with a raised eyebrow, she answered "I think he means his bedroom"

He nodded and began to follow him, only stoping once he reached the stairs to turn back to his parents. They nodded to him with small smiles, and with that, he followed James up the stairs and cautiously followed him down the hall. He stopped at the entrance to his room, James held the door open widely in a welcoming fashion as he took a look inside, Albus took in the detail of his brother's area. Clothes were scattered all around on the green carpeted floor near his bed, the jade green and red blanket hung loosely on the left side of the mattress, the pillows laid either on the floor or just barely on his bed. A lamp with bewitched pictures of people playing quidditch raced around on it's lamp shade. James beckoned him into the room, and even though it was against his better judgement began to enter the room. That's right about when the unexpected began to happen.

As soon as Albus was fully in the room, James quickly pushed the door shut and pulled out his dark brown wand from his back pocket and uttered a spell, the door then locked itself. James quickly whirled around and shot at his brother, he managed to wrap his arms around Albus's neck in a head lock and began to quickly rub his knuckles across his little brothers skull good-naturedly as Albus tried to squirm out of his grip.

"Happy birthday squirt!" he laughed as a hysteric smile spread across his face. Albus couldn't help but share in that smile as he knew his brother was only doing this in fun, though he still squirmed to get free of his hold.

After a moment of this, his big brother released him, letting Albus tumble across the floor and land with another thud on his back. Both of them laughed a bit before James yanked him up by his right arm. He stumbled a bit before regaining his balance and turned back to his older brother, a joking smile still lit upon his face.

"So..." Albus began, hoping his brother would catch on. He didn't.

"So what?" he asked, still smiling at what had just transpired. Albus then began to glare at him with his bright green eyes.

"Please tell me that you didn't just drag me up here for that"

"Oh, well partly yes, but I also need to give you your birthday present". On that note, Albus immediately lit up with wonder at what his present could be. James walked past him and hunched down to his knees, he slid his hand under the bed and dragged out a small package. He got up and walked back to his bewildered brother, snatching his right hand and slapped the present into his open palm. Albus winced as he closed his hand around the items inside the packet. It was mostly transparent so he could see that there were marble sized balls in assorted different colours, around maybe ten of each colour so sixty in all. He turned his green gaze back to his brother.

"What are these?" he asked, James gave him one of his famous evil smiles as he took the packet and flipped it on its other side that had letters plastered to the packet, Albus looked down at them and read aloud.

"_Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Multi-coloured Mini Firework Pellets_, get it free from uncle George?" he asked as his gaze lifted once more to his brother.

"No such luck, I went there to get your birthday present and he made me buy it, said if I got it free, then it would have just been a present from him to you, and he still wants to get you something, lucky" he stated while ruffling Albus's hair "But if you tell mum and dad that I gave you those, I will hex you so hard that you won't know up from down, got it"

"Got it"

"Good, now let's get back down there, they'll probably be wondering if I plastered you to the wall again" and with that, he made his way out the door, Albus hot on his heels.

They made there way down the stairs, where the first thing they saw was their family all sitting around the table like they had left them. Lilly was still munching her cereal down while Ginny stood over Harry's shoulder siping at her coffee. Harry seemed to be reading the daily prophet, but the two boys had no idea on how it got there. Well, that was until they noticed the grey feathered horned owl sitting near the delicate rose vase.

"So that's we're Nimbus went" James stated as he got off the last step and let out a loud whistle that the owl seemed to understand and came fluttering over, roughly landing on his shoulder, though James didn't seem to mind. Nimbus cooed softly as James brought up his left hand and ran his fingers down his spine, clearly enjoying the treatment he had been given. Albus looked to the table, scanning its wooden exterior for the letter he'd been waiting for since last night. He frustratedly forced his gaze away from the table and to his father, satisfied that what he was looking for wasn't there.

"Dad, do you have-" his words were cut short by the look on his face, it told him all he needed to know as his gaze fell to his shoes.

"Um, actually, the other reason-reason for me bringing you up there was so I could give you... Well, hang on a sec" said James as he began to whisper in his owl's ear, and with a couple of flaps, Nimbus was off his shoulder and up the stairs in a matter of seconds. It took only a moment before he was back with two letters clenched in his beak. He landed back on James's shoulder, where he took the two pieces of parchment from him and extended one to his brother, the other being held in his left hand.

Albus just stared at it for a moment before snatching it from him and tearing it open. His eyes scanned over the letter, a smile making itself more and more known as he continued on reading. Quiet over took the room, everyone eagerly waiting to see what the middle child's reaction would be. They didn't need to wait long.

"YYYYYYEEEEEESSSSSS!" he screamed as he pumped his fists in the air James backed off from him a bit as he started jumping up and down like a three year old on caffein. His parents couldn't help but chuckle at the sight, thrilled they were to see their son so happy.

"Alright Al, do you think you could calm down enough for some presents from your family?" Harry asked through his chuckling. Albus immediately stopped, though he was still grinning ear to ear.

"Well, I think I should give first, you know, lady's first and all" Lilly piped up as she let the bowl and spoon be whisked off to the dishwasher, where the best part was that, the dishes cleaned themselves.

"Lady, what happened to my little pumpkin?"

"Fine then, youngest first"

And on that note, Lilly rushed up to her room, almost knocking down James as she barged through. Once she was out of sight, James spoke to his parents.

"What on earth did you two give birth to, my little sister or a freight train?!" he barely managed to stop himself there as Lilly rushed back down the stairs and tackled Albus into a hug. For the third time that day, Albus landed on his back with a thud, Lilly still clutching onto him tightly. She looked up and brushed a stray strand of reddish brown hair from her face as she let go of him and revealed herself to be clutching onto a small yellow boxed present with a red bow stuck neatly on top. Lilly got off and helped her brother up, his left hand rubbing the now aching bruise on the back of his head.

"Albus, would you like me to get ridof that?" Ginny asked, nodding to where he was rubbing his head. He nodded gratefully and turned his back to his mother, tapping the spot where the bruise should be. With a flick of her wand, the pain stopped and the bruise was gone. Albus turned back to her with a bright smile and a thank you.

"Come on already, open it!" Lilly urged as she held the box out. Albus smiled and took the present from her delicate hands, making sure not to rip the thing to pieces as he unwrapped the present. Inside the box were twelve plain white diamonds, or at least they looked like them with there shimmering edges and fine shape.

"Um, thanks Lilly but, Er, what are these?" Albus asked with a raised eyebrow, causing her to giggle a bit before she answered.

"Those are advice gems, their imprinted with my thoughts on whatever you ask. You just pick one up, ask it a question, then smash it under your foot and a floating version of me will appear and give the advice that I would give you if you'd asked me that question. Thought you'd like some advice on Hogwarts or something when you get there so, yeh, hope you like them"

"Like them, these are great! I'm sure these will come in handy when I get there, thanks!" he exclaimed as he bent down and drew her into a hug. Her cheeks turned a bright array of red as she hugged him back in a warm embrace. James rolled his brown eyes as he usually did when these things occurred. Albus got up and turned his green eyes to his parents, he didn't really care if he got what he wanted, his family, and going to Hogwarts of course. Just as long as he had those two things, he didn't care what happened, though having a couple more presents couldn't hurt, could it?

"I don't know, should we give it to him, I mean he's got free advice and he's going to Hogwarts. Maybe we should save for next year, dear?" Ginny was beginning to act like James. Albus pulled off the most hurt face he could muster, though evidence of a smile still remained on his face. Once again James's eyes rolled as he tapped his brother on the shoulder and he turned to him.

"Al, is that best hurt look you can do, here, watch the master at work" he said as he whispered more words to Nimbus as he jumped from James shoulder and settled himself on his, Albus and Lilly rolled there eyes at the comment. James seemed to clear his throat as he began his act, then possibly the best hurt face in the world was made right in front of his green eyes. Albus betted that, that was how they weren't getting owls from Hogwarts every day last year. Everyone in the room began clapping as the oldest took a modest bow before he let his parents talk again, soaking up as much of the applause as he could get.

"A very believable act dear, now back to the birthday boy, would you like to do the honours Harry?" Ginny inquired as a smile started up Albus's face. Harry nodded and started up the stairs to their room. Everyone quietly waited for his return as Nimbus took his place back on James's shoulder. It was only a minute before Harry returned with a, very big, very long present covered in unfortunately bad wrapping. Albus's eyes glowed with excitement, almost bulging out of there sockets at the large gift as Harry let him take hold of it.

"Happy birthday Albus" Harry and Ginny said quietly as Albus just stood there in a trance. James snapped his fingers in front of him, though it had little to no effect as he turned back to them with a questioning look.

"I think we lost him" James stated simply as he snapped his fingers in front of him again.

"Give him a moment" Lilly commented. Almost within three seconds after she said that, Albus had set the package on the table and had began tearing and ripping at the wrapping. The present inside made his jaw drop instantly, even James was speechless as he looked over his shoulder. It was a broom, the golden bars and light brown wood gave away what model it was. The golden letters plastered to the side of it spelled it out as clear as day, but James had already began his rant as he turned to his parents.

"Why the hell does he get that, I didn't get my first broom until I came back for holidays!" he accused angrily.

"James, your birthday is during your time at Hogwarts, you didn't get your broom then because first years are not allowed there brooms inside the school grounds" Harry stated calmly "Besides, it's the same model as yours and he can't take it this year either. You on the other hand can, so what are you winging about?"

James let out a low grumble as he turned back to Albus as he admired the brand new broom. The letters plastered on it glowed a bit so as to make its name known, it read "_SunSeeker 2000_", the same model that James had which was designed especially for seekers. Though Albus knew that he couldn't take it to Hogwarts, but at least he could use it during the holidays. He turned back to his family with a bright smile alight on his face as he thanked each of them for the wonderful gifts that they had given him (Though he made no mention of what James had given).

Even though they usually got the shopping for supplies done early, they all decided that it could be done tomorrow if they got up early enough before the train to Hogwarts left.

**Authors note:** as always, time for some explanations.

First will be the new broomstick. First off, did you all really think that the firebolt would remain the fastest broomstick in the world or whatever one Harry had. This one, as stated is specially designed for seekers, it's speed and turning is top notch which gives the seekers an edge against obstacles and bludgers if they stand in there way.

Now I shall address what your all are probably thinking, how come Albus gets so spoiled on his birthday, well he really doesn't, one present from each family member isn't so much. All of the children have there birthday's the exact same way.

Now for how the advice gems work, how does one imprint on the crystals so that they give advice that the same person would. Simple really, the person that wants to give the advice for the other needs only rub the crystal between their fingers, the gems absorb the magical imprint from the persons body and then can create an exact replica of that persons advice. If the user asks the gems a question that the imprinter never knew, the crystal will glow red in warning before the user smashes it. If the user doesn't notice and smashes it anyway, nothing happens.

Now for the firework pellets, how do they go off and what happens when it does? The person only needs to throw it at something hard like a wall or the floor, but force is necessary if the effect is to work. Now what happens when they hit the hard thing? It explodes into a mini fireworks display, and it totally depends on the colour too, if you throw a green pellet, green fireworks, and so on and so forth.

What day is Albus born, the day before Hogwarts starts, just turned eleven in this chapter.

I will show all there birthdays in the story, that I promise you.

I know people are gonna start ranting on about the levitation charm and how it only levitates the persons clothes and they can only be levitating for a minute or so, well Harry is a really powerful wizard in case anyone forgot, so I think he should be able to lift an eleven year old boy with little to no trouble.

And if anyone thinks that I'm making Albus too childish with the levitation thing, I am just demonstrating the bond between those two and Albus's love of flight, which will become very relevant in later stories.

Ok so, hope you enjoyed this chapter and don't worry, I'm getting to the part where they get on the train in the next chapter, then the train ride and sorting after that one. Till next time, bye :D


	3. Chapter 2: Flying Spoons?

**Authors note: **I'm back, now I'm pretty sure that I don't need to tell you that I don't own Harry Potter by now but I'll do it anyway. If anyone has ideas on what will happen during this I'm all ears. Now let's get to this.

**Chapter 2: ferrets, wands and flying spoons**

Albus was once again the first one up, though not as early as the day prior to this one. It was eight o-clock exactly when he had gotten up, leaping from his covers and putting on the same attire as yesterday with his zip-up pocket filled with the mini firework pellets. James had explained how they worked so he was pretty sure that they wouldn't explode in his pocket, though he still trod carefully down the stairs. Instead of going to the kitchen, he headed to the living room, the cream coloured walls were hung with the moving pictures of his family, all of them waving at the camera with big toothy grins, including himself. The room in itself was fairly simple, there was a muggle tv up against the wall near the window, a big fire place covered most of the left wall, no fire lit inside. A platform hung out from the right side of its stone frame with a bowl neatly placed on it with silver glittery powder that filled it to the brim. Two red leather couches sat behind a small coffee table which stood on a large red rug, the couch on the right much longer then the other.

Albus was shocked to see his big brother sitting on the left couch. He usually never woke up this early unless forced to by namely their mother.

James noticed him walk in, giving Albus his casual sarcastic smile as he got up and strode over.

"Morning little bro, ready to finally be going to Hogwarts?" he asked, ruffling his little brothers neat hair as he usually did. Albus smiled up at him before a worried look crept upon his face.

"Well, actually... It's not that I don't want to go, it's just..." Albus began to mumble before James clapped him on the back which immediately silenced him as the older boy began to speak once more.

"Oh come on, you should be proud of yourself, your gonna be the first ever Potter to be in Slytherin since ever!" he laughed as Albus began glaring daggers at him. That was actually what he was worrying about, and James knew it all too well and had been saying that since late last night.

"I'm not going to be in Slytherin" he answered firmly.

"Come on, its nothing to be ashamed of"

"I won't, I won't, I won't!"

"Just keep telling yourself that"

Albus was sorely tempted to grab one of the pellets from his pocket and throw it at his feet, but that would only get him in trouble, though it would still be worth it. His eyes fell onto something in the kitchen, a simple wooden spoon tilted and wobbled on the bench, it was fairly worn from old age (and from Lilly teething on it), a bandage had been wrapped around the middle where a crack had formed. His gaze fell back on his brother, his little rant on how he was going to be in Slytherin still seemingly not done. Albus's face was still shaped into a glare as rage seemed to seethe off of him from where his fear had been before, and as the last words left the older boys mouth, the spoon shot from where it resided moments ago and whirled across the room. The wooden spoon soared through the air as the end of it smacked into James's shoulder and bounced off, landing on the left couch. James let out a yelp as he began to rub his shoulder and shot a glare of his own before he spoke again.

"What on earth was that for!" he shouted through the new pain, though he could guess why the act was done.

"Stop saying I'll be in Slytherin!" Albus shot back.

"I was just saying there's nothing wrong with being in Slytherin, besides, look at you! Your perfect Slytherin material" the words had just barely left his mouth as the spoon lifted from the couch and whirled through the air once more. Though instead of it aiming for his shoulder again, it spun around the older boy and whacked him on the back, causing him to jump forward in pain as he whirled around and pointed his wand at the floating object.

"Take it BACK!" Albus shouted from we're he stood, the spoon shot off before James could even utter a word, only just barely managing to duck as the kitchen utensil zoomed over his head. James got back to his feet and instead of pointing his wand at the spoon, he aimed it at Albus who was too angry to care, the older of the two opened his mouth to speak, though another voice was heard before his.

"I do believe that is quite enough" a sharp but soft voice rang out before James could say anything, the wand in his hand drooped down as the wooden spoon clattered to the floor. Both boys heads turned to see their dad standing by the entrance to the kitchen, a stern look plastered on his face as his green eyes looked the two children over. His arms were crossed as he began to speak again.

"Would either of you two care to explain?" he asked, the sternness still not leaving his voice. James Immediately told his side of the story.

"He just started trying to beat me with that wooden spoon" he said defensively, pointing to the immobile spoon on the greyish floor to emphasise his point.

"Only because he kept saying I'd be in Slytherin, and I told him more then once to stop!" Albus retorted with a glaring gaze, the spoon rattled on the floor for a moment before stopping again. Harry looked to both of them with a raised eyebrow as they began to shout at each other once more, he heaved a sigh before speaking again.

"Boys!" he said sharply, they immediately stopped and turned back to him, deep frowns now penetrating the glares that were there before. They both waited for their father to speak, fearing any outburst would only increase there punishment.

"Firstly, Albus" Harry inquired, Albus's mouth fell into a gape as he stared at his father. A wide grin spread across James's face as he tried desperately to stifle a laugh, Harry ignored him and continued on softly "I would have expected you to be able to restrain yourself from beating your brother, and using magic without a wand is very dangerous, who knows what would have happened if it continued. I know that today you are going to Hogwarts for the first time and that tension is high but there is no need to take it out on your brother, now, are you gonna apologise?"

Albus had been staring at his shoes the entire time, disappointment riddled his face as he slowly turned his gaze to James. The spoon on the floor rattled a bit before stopping again, Albus spoke.

"I'm... Sorry I used magic on you, I hope you can forgive me" he said finally, though it seemed that James wasn't listening as he was still basking in the glory of getting off scot free. Or... So he thought.

"And as for you James" Harry continued, the sternness from before making a come back as James's smile quickly fell from his face "first of all, what were you thinking when you raised your wand at your little brother? That you'd just use a simple spell to make him stop? That spell could have just as easily gone wrong as his use of magic without a wand. This is also a special day where your brother is going to be going to Hogwarts for the first time, which means that this day should be spent with joy, not with anger and regret. And scaring your brother about being in Slytherin, need I remind you that you were in the same position not so long ago, now I think it's time you apologised"

It took a lot longer for James to say the words, but with one final glare from Harry, he got it out. He said it a lot faster then Albus had, but still managed to look a bit remorseful as he did what any responsible brother would do, get there little brother into another head lock and start to rub his knuckles across his skull again like the previous day. Harry couldn't help but chuckle at the sight, though unknown to them, Lilly and Ginny walked into the living room without them noticing. Both girls rolled there eyes at the sight as they waited, which wasn't a long wait as James gave Al a quick shove into the couch before they turned back to the rest of the family, a wide grin plastered to James's face and a small smile on Albus's. They all shared good-morning hugs with the rest of the family before they were ready to go, the children whined as their parents ran around the house, making sure to have everything ready for when they got back. The trip was to be getting the supplies for the two children that they would need for their respective classes, though not much had changed since the adults had gone, there were differences.

The first noticeable difference was that the pet list had changed, instead of it just being a toad, owl or cat, it was now...

_Owl, toad, cat_

_Ferret, bat, snake (Non venomous)_

_Lizard, crow/raven, toucan_

_Rat/mouse, parrot, spider (Non venomous)_

The restricted section of the library was now open to those of year six and above, and the last change was that there was now a duelling club which had opened up for all years permanently.

Harry called over all the members of the family to the fireplace, where he clearly stated that they would be leaving, which brought sighs of relief from the children. As soon as there shopping was done, they would return to help pack their children's supplies and head straight off to platform nine and three quarters. Harry's hand reached for the bowl, in which he scooped up a handful of the silver powder into his pale hand as he entered into the fire place and opened his mouth to speak.

"Diagon Alley!"

As soon as the words had left his mouth, he threw the powder down to his feet. The powder collided with the ashy floor of the fire place, where green flames rose up and enveloped him, leaving nothing but ash were he had been standing only moments ago. Albus turned to his mother, his green eyes staring deeply into her brown as she gave him a reassuring smile. Albus had only seen floo powder used a handful of times, and has used it far less. Albus started forward slowly, taking a handful of floo powder in his hand as he turned around in the fire place to face his family. He raised his hand above his head and spoke.

"Diagon Alley!" he shouted as he tossed the powder down. The flames coiled around him as he shut his eyes immediately. He felt the heat rise throughout his body, not a searing heat, just a casual warm feeling, he couldn't even feel his body being transported through the floo network. When he blinked his bright green eyes open again, a welcoming smile from a young girl around his age greeted him. Small freckles were splattered across her cheeks with her fiery red hair tied into a pony tail, her blue eyes sparkled with excitement. She adorned dark blue jeans, reddish pink trainers, a blue hooded jumper and a pink button up shirt that could only just be seen by the collar that stuck out around her neck. It only took a second for James to appear next to him, the flames evaporating around the older boy as he fully materialised. Before either of them could react, the girl leapt at them, embracing the two in a tight hug, it took a while before Albus gave a hug of his own back, James just stood there trying to breath.

"Rose! Rose I'm gonna pass out if you don't let go!" James choked out, Rose immediately loosened up. He began to take in really deep breaths of air, his face almost a pale blue colour.

"You'll never believe who I found wandering around here" came their dad as he chuckled at the sight, two other voices joined in. Albus looked past his excited cousin, behind her was his uncle Ron, and his aunt Hermione, and of course his other cousin Hugo. Five seconds later resulted in the immediate arrival of Ginny and Lilly. His little sister greeted Hugo enthusiastically as they had been basically around each other since birth. Lilly then made her way to Ron who scooped her up in his arms and held her in a tight embrace as Hermione came over and planted a kiss on her forehead. Hugo did the same, except that it was Ginny who he ran to as she gave him a kiss of her own, Harry ruffling his fiery red hair affectionately. Albus and James gave Ron firm handshakes and Hermione gentle hugs (Though James at first refused) while Rose exchanged hugs with their parents. After all the pleasantries were out of the way, all of the Weasley's eyes fell on Albus who quickly seemed to shrink under the gaze.

"I do believe we owe the birthday boy some presents" Ron said with a grin.

"You guys don't owe me anything, my birthday was yesterday!" Albus replied though he knew it wouldn't do any good.

"Your not getting out of it Al, so, you will open mine first" and with that, Ron pulled his wand out and soon there was a large wide, red and blue present in his hand which he handed to a now excited Albus, his bright green eyes scanned over the item quickly. Harry put a hand on Al's shoulder before speaking.

"Maybe we should sit down while we open these presents?" Harry asked, which got an agreeable nod from everyone. After about five minutes of walking, they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, taking a seat nearest to the window. Ron, Hermione, Rose and Hugo sat opposite from Harry, Ginny, Albus and James, Lilly taking her place at the head of the table, James to her left and Hugo to her right.

All eyes were on the present that Ron was now sliding down the table towards Albus, his eyes shimmering with excitement as he closed his hands around the package. He looked up to Ron who gave an approving nod, Al did not hesitate to tear open the wrapping. What was inside filled his heart with joy, the packaging had been torn and discarded to reveal a chess board and a plastic bag filled with the chess pieces. Albus looked back at Ron with a wide grin on his face.

"Thanks uncle Ron, I love it!" he exclaimed, causing Ron to chuckle. James looked over his shoulder to see what he had been gifted with, but as soon as his eyes saw the chess board and little figures in the plastic bag, they rolled.

"It used to be my old wizards chess set back in the day, I don't play that much anymore and I know how much you love to play, so there you have it" he laughed as Albus continued to admire the stone pieces. It was true, Albus loved wizards chess, it was one of his most favourite games in the world. He beat almost everyone that played him, even Ron when he could coax him into playing. The only one that could match him in a game was Rose, and even then it was a fairly even match. Ron turned to Hermione who gave him a smile back as she pulled out a present of her own wrapped in blue and white packaging, it was a sort of flat square shape.

"Al, do you mind if you could turn your attention to my present for a sec?" she asked, making Albus's gaze shoot up from the chess board to her aunt in three seconds flat. Hermione passed the present to him and he was now ripping the wrapping off with the same ferocity that James would have if he was eating _Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. _What he uncovered in the package wasn't better than the wizards chess set but all the same, it brought a smile to his face. The title read One_ Hundred Great Strategies Of Quidditch._

"Thank you aunt Hermione, I love it" he gave her a bright grin, Hermione returned that with a quick smile before James interrupted.

"Can I borrow it from you some time?" he asked as he looked at the book. Albus turned from Hermione and shot James a questioning look.

"Why, you never read anyway so whats the point?" he replied.

"Correction, I don't read anything that doesn't interest me"

"Nothing interests you!"

"Quidditch does"

Albus simply gave up on the last remark and said that he could borrow the book after he read it. While this had been going on, Rose and Hugo had pulled out a small purple sack which they gently placed on the wooden table. Rose leaned over and tapped Albus's shoulder, which got him to focus his attention back to the two now grinning siblings. Rose gently took the seemingly golden rope intwined around it and loosened the bind off. Hugo waited until the bind was completely off before he edged his hand into the sack, not moving too quickly that Al noticed, and his hand kept edging back as if afraid that the bag would bite his fingers off. He lifted the object out of the bag delicately and placed it on the table, Hugo lifted his fingers from it and revealed the object. It was a small clear ball, completely made of glass with fine swirls and artistic markings around it. Albus gave a questioning look to the two before they answered.

"It's a Remembrall, the colour goes red when you forget something" Rose stated as she took the bag from Hugo and continued to take another item from it. She placed it just in front of the glass orb and moved her hand away from the small statue like object. It was revealed to be a statue of a dragon, a Hungarian Horn-Tail. It was posed in a guarding sort of stance, it's back arched so the spikes on its back we're on full display, it's clawed wings seemingly dug into the table, the long tail blade stuck forward in a scorpion pose. Its bared teeth clenched together in full view, it's golden eyes in slits.

James peered over at the two items and chuckled, which got the full attention of the family.

"And exactly what is so funny?" Rose inquired with a glare, Hugo just raised an eyebrow.

"The fact that seeing as dear old Albi never forgets anything practically means that ball is useless" he stated smugly, though Albus quickly denied what he said "you never know, better to be safe then sorry"

"Ok, then what about that thing" James retorted as he pointed to the dragon "what are you gonna use that for, a paperweight?"

Rose was about to reply but stopped, a sneaky grin adorned her face as she contemplated for a moment before she continued with what she was about to say.

"So what your saying is that the statue is useless?" she asked, James slowly nodded his head in reply "Then may I suggest that you try picking up the Remembrall"

James gave her a quizzical look before he reached for the orb, though unfortunately for him, he was moving all too slowly. The statues eyes constricted even more, it's tail coming down and swinging just above the table as it snarled, realeasing a small puff of fire that nearly caught his finger as he shot his hand back. The whole table broke into a small laughing fit as James stumbled, though he quickly regained his balance and shot a glare at every member of the family. His gaze fell onto the dragon as it shifted back into its stance in front of the ball, seemingly like a lifeless object once again. Rose was the one to stifle her giggles first before she answered the question that she thought James was most likely thinking.

"There's a charm on the figure that makes it guard whatever is placed next to it" she explained "it attacks anyone that tries to take what it is guarding at the time" James rolled his eyes at the explanation as he glared daggers at the dragon as it stood motionless.

After he was done laughing at his brother, Albus thanked his relatives with a bright smile and a hug for each of them. It was still fairly early to be at Diagon Alley, so they had plenty of time for the shopping before the train left. Albus managed to get Ron into a game of wizards chess, beating him thoroughly in the process. Rose was hopelessly trying to give her father some tips, which he ignored, saying that he used to be a pro at this and needed no help. Hugo and James were skimming through the book Al had been given, pointing out good strategies which James could use against the other houses in their matches (Slytherin in particular). Harry and Ginny were making conversation with Hermione, skipping from one subject to another without pause.

It was a couple of minutes before they decided to get this shopping done, promising to meet back up with them at platform nine and three quarters. They left the Leaky Cauldron behind as they began their shopping. First they had gotten Albus fitted into robes and James some new ones (Never trust James with a fanged Frisbee), then the two parents split up, Ginny taking James and Lilly for the new books he needed, and Harry taking Albus to get his books for his first year, and after that he would take Al to Magical Menagerie for a pet. When the two parents got the necessary books and items for both of them, they would meet up at Ollivanders Wand Shop, which was now owned by none other than their good friend, Luna Lovegood.

When Ollivander was about to retire, he had approached Luna and asked her to take over for him, stating that the reasoning behind this action was that he thought her good nature and creativity would be a good asset to her if she took the job. Luna had gladly accepted the job, and all though she is still a wizarding naturalist, she part time runs the shop during the days when new students arrive at Hogwarts. She even used her naturalist skills to help with her wand making, using a multitude of cores and woods and different lengths for each, some being extremely short while others being ridiculously long. She has even given a basic nature for the wand, some may have ruthless natures while others may have gentle like natures. These all affected how a witch or wizard used there magical skills, though it is unclear why, but Luna's wands have been named by many to be the best wands in the world, though she would always shy away from that.

Harry and Albus had just come out of another shop with new books in hand, Harry shrinking them down so they could be carried more easily in his pocket. Albus was literally buzzing with excitement as they neared closer to the pet shop. He was most likely going to get an owl, as many of the other pets didn't seem that appealing, especially the snakes. Al wondered what owl he would get, a snowy owl like his dad had back in the day? A great horned owl like Nimbus who was probably dozing at home? He didn't know entirely so he came to the conclusion that he would know which one when he saw it. They walked in to the shop quickly, Albus immediately going off in one direction as his father chuckled and headed off to the front counter, giving his son some opportunity to pick what he wanted without a constant shadow looming over him. He wandered down one of the many aisles, shelves upon shelves of animals in large cages that Albus could hardly believe his eyes, some of the said animals were roaming around the store freely. A cat zoomed by his legs as it chased a small white rat across the floor, nearly knocking him over in surprise as he stumbled for a moment before finally regaining his balance by using his right hand to clutch onto one of the many cages which were laiden with a sticking charm so they couldn't fall from the shelves. His green eyes looked around to see the two animals zooming around all over the shops, the rat staying inches away from the cats sharp claws as it shot under a desk, the feline slid to a stop as it could not follow the rat and moved on to find new prey.

Albus watched the spectacle unfold from where he stood, only to be jarred out of his trance as he felt something prodding at his right hand, the hand he had used to steady himself after he nearly was bowled over by the two animals... The same hand he had foolishly left clutching to the bars of a random cage. Albus slowly turned his head to see what was now near his fingers, afraid that any sudden movement would tempt the creature to bite from where it was caged. What had greeted his eyes were, thankfully, not some type of snake or spider, but a ferret. The small creature was now prodding his fingers with its soft, pink nose. It's brownish black eyes looked up from the hand to the new face that was staring at him with bright green eyes, his own gazing back as he now licked at the fingers. Al smiled at this and used his fingers to brush over his small head as he looked at a sign under the cage, it read _Callidus_. The creature leaned into the touch as Albus continued to stroke, his finger running over the surprisingly silky like fur. Al was severely tempted to open the latch on the cage to let him out and take a better look at the furry mammal, but thought that it may not be allowed. The ferret began to lick at his fingers again, which nearly brought Albus to the point of giving in to the temptation. Though he didn't get much of a choice as he heard a voice behind him speak up.

"It looks as though Cal has taken a liking to you"

Albus looked back over his shoulder to see his father and an old man with greyish white hair looking onward at the two. Al gave a small nod as he looked back at Cal, thinking to himself that it must have been a short name for Callidus.

"So I take it we're not getting you an owl?" Harry questioned as the owner of the shop walked over and unlocked the cage, letting the door open all the way.

As soon as this had been done, Callidus shot out of the cage and latched onto Albus's hand, scrambling up his arm to rest his long body around the back of his neck, his head coming around the left of Al as he began to nuzzle against his cheek. Albus could only laugh at the sight as his right hand came up and gave the ferret gentle scratches behind the ears. Al carefully turned to his father with pleading green eyes.

"Please, can I have him?" he asked as he gave his dad the best puppy eyes he could muster, they weren't as good as Lilly's, but they were far better than James's attempts "I know he isn't an owl but I could just ask James if I could use Nimbus"

"I said you could have a pet Albus, and I didn't say it needed to be an owl" Harry said as he gave him a gentle smile.

Albus was positively beaming when they left the shop. They had gotten the necessary items for Callidus, which included a cage, pet food (Even though the shop owner said that he could have basicly anything) and ferret medicine. All the items were magicked away to their house as they strode down the street, leaving Cal to hang around Albus's neck as they finally came to Ollivanders Wand Shop.

They stood in front of the large shop waiting for the rest of the family, though what they got was family all the same, it wasn't the family they had been expecting.

"Well, fancy meeting you here" called Ron as the Weasley's strode up to them, followed shortly by Ginny, James and Lilly. As they came closer to the two, all eyes began to fall to the ferret that had wrapped itself around Al's neck.

"Oh my gosh, it's ADORABLE!" Lilly squealed as she ran up to Albus, giant brown eyes gazing intently at the small furry figure as she desperately tried to convince Albus to let her hold him.

"Careful Al, we don't want another incident like what happened to Nimbus" James chimed in as he looked down at Cal.

Albus knew all too well what had happened, James had let Lilly "borrow" Nimbus for a while, what he got back was a red bowed, pink clawed owl with bright pink make up splattered all over his face. Nimbus never went near Lilly again after that.

"I thought you wanted an owl?" Ginny questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"I did, but he's really taken a liking to me" he replied as Cal nuzzled into his cheek again, further proving his point.

"What's his name?" Hugo asked as he pulled out a packet of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

"Callidus"

"That name means clever in Latin" Rose piped up as she stroked the top of Cal's head "wonder why he's been named that"

"What's the bet that he's about as smart as an ant?" James said sarcastically as he pinched one of the beans that Hugo had opened up from the packet.

Callidus seemed to pipe up at the remark, lifting his head away from the gentle stroking. The ferret jumped from Albus's shoulder and scurried up Rose's arm. He then shot off her shoulder and landed squarely on James's shoulder, giving a quick, painful nip on his earlobe before running down his arm and to his right hand. The small creature then plucked the purple bean from his fingertips, ran back to his shoulder, leapt off and landed on Rose again, and then landed on Al's shoulder, curling back around his neck as he proceeded to nibble at the bean. James was now rubbing his earlobe as he glared at the small creature.

"What the hell, he bit me!" he nearly shouted.

"Language James" Ginny scolded as she pulled out her wand and fixed his ear.

"Looks like he's smart enough to know when he's been insulted" Albus commented as he tried to suppress his laughs. Callidus continued to nibble at the bean until it was nothing but sweet crumbs.

"What flavour was that?" Lilly asked, Hugo looked at the back of the of the box as Lilly looked over his shoulder.

"Sugared Violet" he said as his fingers dug into the box, pulling out another purple bean. Callidus immediately shot off Albus and landed on Lilly's head. Turning on the spot, he leapt from there and gently landed on Hugo's shoulder, scurrying down his arm and quickly snatching the bean away before he did the same acrobatics again and came to rest back on Al's shoulder, continuing to nibble at the treat as everyone tried to hold in their laughs.

"I think that furry scarf has a thing for Sugared violet beans" James said as he shot a glare at said ferret who was quietly finishing off the bean he had taken.

It was only when Harry checked the time that they went into the shop, if they didn't want to be in a rush to get the kids to platform nine and three quarters then they needed to get this done now. They walked into the shop, it was pretty large, behind a counter were huge aisles with thousands upon thousands of boxes filled with a single wand. Behind the counter was none other then the shop owner herself.

Luna's long dirty blond hair came down to just below her shoulder's, her silvery grey eyes still gave her that permanent surprised look. She was wearing a pale blue cardigan, a grey dress that came down to her knees, and a pair of pale white trainers and grey socks. She looked up and gave a gentle smile, they all loved her, she was like another extension to the family, though to the kids, she seemed a bit weird.

"Hallo Loony" Harry chimed as they entered, using her old nickname in a playful manner. She smiled back brightly as she gave all of the family warm hugs (which again, James tried to refuse). Albus was trying not to jump through the roof, he was finally, after watching all those years of his mum and dad then his brother perform magic in front of him most of his life that he's lived so far, he was finally going to be able to do it as well, and it wouldn't just be uncontrolled, emotionally caused magic. Real magic was what he was going to be able to do.

Luna stepped back a bit to look at her two new customers. Both looked eager to get their wands, bright smiles plastered to their faces as they waited patiently for this long awaited event.

"I think it should be ladies first, so Rose, would you come with me for a moment" Luna said as she began to walk to a door near some of the shelves. Rose was beaming as she took a step to follow, but she turned to look at Albus for a moment. His excitement had slightly dimmed, his smile wasn't as bright as it was a moment ago. He realised Rose was watching and gave her a reassuring smile before she left. He's been waiting all these years for this moment, he could wait just a bit longer.

Rose was finally behind the door, out of sight from the rest of the family, but no one was worried, they knew Luna wasn't going to hurt her. The same thing had happened to James when he got his first wand. He was taken into the room, asked some questions by Luna, and came out with a brand new wand. His wand was made out of holly, length twelve and three quarters, Chinese Fireball scale core, slightly bendy and a tricky nature. The colouring was a bright reddish brown, it had something carved into the wood that looked like a serpent coiling around the wand, only stopping at the half way point. James had flaunted his wand in Albus's face when he had gotten it, always taking the opportunity to show off his skills he had learned at Hogwarts, and even though Harry had always discouraged it, there was a ward placed around their house, so it was safe to use magic there without getting into trouble by the ministry. Which meant for Albus, that he was a prime candidate for his magical pranks.

It was a few minutes before the two girls came back out of the room, the beaming smile on her face now literally glowing with pride as she held out her hand. Clutched in her fingers was her wand, it was a really dark brown colour with a sort of handle near the end, it wasn't really too much of a handle because it was carved out of the wand, but handle all the same. At the end of the handle was a small carving of an open book with a owl behind it, which Albus thought fitted her pretty well seeing as she was even more of a bookworm than him. She threw her arms around her parents and then her brother, she screamed with absolute delight, her wide grin looked like it might split her face in half.

"Her wand is made out of mahogany, length eighteen, Acromantula eye core, quiet rigid and has a curious nature" Luna chimed as she exited the room they were previously in.

The Weasley's paid the price, which in their case was lowered because they were really good friends, though it still cost a fair bit. Luna then turned to Albus and motioned him to follow as she began to walk through the door. He turned to his family for a moment, though he knew that Luna wasn't going to hurt him, he was still nervous to follow. Harry gave him a nod, and with that, he walked into the room.

It was big, huge in fact, even more shelves were in this one room than there where back in the main room, and even more wands! The floor was completely free of boxes, the only other thing in the room was a desk to the far left were Luna was with her wand placed behind her ear. She picked up a quill and a clipboard and jotted a few things down before finally speaking.

"So is it true, was your birthday yesterday? She asked as she looked over some of the boxes.

"Um, yeh, it was" he replied in a small voice.

"Sorry I didn't get you a present, but I think I can find something to give you" she replied.

"No, you don't need to, my birthday was yesterday, been and gone, you don't need to do that!" he exclaimed hastily. She didn't reply to that, only simply writing down something with her quill as she continued to look through the boxes.

"What did you get for your birthday?" she continued.

"Well, from mum and dad I got the SunSeeker 2000, Lilly gave me some advice gems, uncle Ron's old wizard chess set, a book on Quidditch from aunt Hermione, a guard dragon statue and a remmembrall from Rose and Hugo" he listed off all the presents that he got, except for...

"And nothing from James?" Luna asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, he got me something, I just promised not to tell what it was" he said guiltily. She then jotted down more writing down on the clip board.

"Was the ferret around your neck a present to?" she questioned without looking up.

Albus had completely forgotten that Callidus was around his neck, it just felt so natural to have him there that he forgot he was actually there.

"Oh sorry about that, I'll just go put him with my parents and come back" he replied as he was about to turn and leave.

"There's no need, he's fine where he is, just make sure that you don't flick your wand at him, if the wand is incorrect then there's no telling what will happen" and with that, she pulled her own wand from her ear and flicked it upwards. Moments later, one of the boxes at least twenty shelves up came floating down, stopping mid air in front of an amazed Albus. He timidly opened the box to reveal a creamy brown wand, it had a handle on it that looked like it belonged to a mug or something, just made out of the same wood.

"This wand is made out of a gum tree, length ten, dragon heart-string core, unyielding and a curious nature" Luna stated as she watched eagerly. Al reached for the wand, his fingers trembling with tension, but as soon as his skin came into contact with the wood, the box spiralled backwards as its lid came closing down with a slam. The box tumbled across the ground before it soared up into the air and settled back in its original resting place. Albus looked up at Luna who was jotting down more notes. She looked up and spoke her thoughts.

"The length seems to be right, but not much else" she spoke as she jotted down more notes.

"How can you tell?" he asked.

"Usually if nothing was correct, nothing would happen. Seeing as something actually happened, that tells me that something must have been right, and the length is usually the first to go" she replied.

"Ok"

She flicked her wand again and another box floated down to them, the lid opening just a bit before it came to rest in front of Al. Inside was a caramel brown wand with a line coiling all around it, only stopping at the tip.

"This is made out of Claret Ash, length ten, pixie wing core, nice and supple and a loyal nature" she stated as Albus reached for the wand. His fingers connected with the wood and nothing happened, he pulled it out of the box and gave Luna a questioning look. She motioned him to flick the wand, and he did, but what happened was not what he was hoping for. He flicked it at the ground near the table, and one of the legs that held it snapped, causing it to fall to the right with a slam. Albus quickly put the wand back and began to utter an apology.

"Its fine, I can fix that anytime, anyway, looks like we've got the nature and the flexibility down, now lets get the wood done" she waved her wand and this time one from the bottom came out and hovered in front of the boy. It opened to reveal a wand much like the previous, but the lines came into a curl around the bottom, and instead of it being caramel brown, it was a ghostly silver.

"This is made of silver birch, length ten, Acromantula eye core, nice and supple and loyal nature"

He waved the wand at the table again, not wanting to damage any of the wands in the boxes. This time the leg piece fixed itself, the table lifting back up and the leg half coming in to a perfect fit on the leg. Albus smiled, maybe this was the one. Just as the thought reached his mind, the opposite leg snapped in half and made the table fall backwards. He gave a sigh as he put the wand back into the box.

"Now it's just the core" she said.

It was at the most half an hour since that wand, all of the ones he tried didn't work. The core was what was the most trouble, they had gone from troll tooth to hippogriff talon and still nothing seemed to work. Albus gave a defeated sigh as he rubbed his forehead, maybe he would just have to wait till next year to go to Hogwarts. Luna rubbed her chin as she thought hard, this was one of the most trickiest customers in a long while now, she was determined to get this right. Rose had been easy, so much like her mother with the Weasley flare mixed in, but Albus was not an open book. A sudden thought struck her, the one core she hadn't used yet, this could be it.

"Albus" she pulled his attention back to her.

"Yes?" he replied.

"Do you know what a thestral is?" she asked, which he replied with a questioning nod.

"Have you seen one?"

There was silence for a moment, but in the end, he gave his answer.

"Yes"

Luna wasn't going to pry, she could see well enough that this wasn't something he liked to talk about, something so personal that it immediately dampened his already high spirits. She waved her wand once again, and from the highest shelf to the far right, came the box. It floated to a halt in front of the boy as he looked at it, the lid opening wide to reveal the wand. It was a ghostly silver like the other ones he had tried, but this one had what looked like vines carved into the wood that coiled around to the middle, near the bottom, the vines formed a circle with a head of a stag carved into it. His hand trembled as he touched his skin to its surface, his whole body felt a comforting warmth as he lifted the wand from its resting place. He turned to Luna as she listed throughout what it was made out of.

"This is made out of silver birch, length ten, nice and supple with a loyal nature. Thestral tail hair core"

Albus gave a nod and prepared himself, and with one timid flick, he knew that this was his wand. Long silver slivers of light poured from its tip before twisting and twining around their creators hand, then they evaporated into nothingness. Callidus scurried down his arm and sniffed at the new object before going back to his spot curled around his neck. Luna walked over and motioned for him to follow out the door. He followed and was greeted with the sight of warm smiles and happy faces from his family.

"What took you so long" James whined as he got up from a chair he had been sitting on.

"Had a bit of trouble finding the right one" Luna answered. Meanwhile, Albus looked over his family but then realised that they were short a few.

"Where are our relatives?" he inquired. Harry was the one to answer.

"They had forgotten to pack the night before, so they went home and said that they'll meet us at platform nine and three quarters" he replied.

"So can we see the wand!" Lilly spoke up. Albus showed them and they all looked in awe. Though James had less awe on his face than the rest of the family. Ginny was the first to snap out of it.

"We're gonna need to be going now, you two spent a bit of time in there, we don't have too much time to waste anymore" she said as she pulled out a purple pouch that she kept her money in. Luna put a hand up for her to stop.

"You won't need to pay, this is my late birthday present for Al" she said as Albus was about to protest. She gave him a silencing smile and hugged them all goodbye as they exited the building and Harry used apparition to take them home.

**Authors note: **alright, now instead of explaining things like I did in the last chapter, I will simply ask you to review your questions and I will message you the answer unless it's a plot spoiler. So yes, I hope you liked this chapter and sorry it took so long, but I will begin work on the next chapter as soon as possible, see you next time :D


	4. Chapter 3: Train Ride To A Hat

**Authors note:** hello people's, uploaded a new chapter, yay! I hope you enjoyed the last one and I also hope you enjoy this one to. I do not own Harry potter, as you all well know. Now, let's get on with this.

**Chapter 3: train ride to a hat of many words**

When they got back it was a mad rush. Harry and Ginny were running around the house, trying as best they could to get their children ready. By the time it was over, their things were packed into their trunks and ready to go (except Callidus and Nimbus, who were put into cages). Harry and Ginny basically shoved their kids into the car, they couldn't very well use apparition to get there, what with all the muggles there at the normal station and all. So they took their flying car. It was much like the one that the Weasley's had all those years ago, except that it was a red colour and not blue. They would fly most of the way, then drive the muggle way when they got near the station so as not to cause a commotion. All were sitting in the car except Harry, who had forgotten to brush over his hair. Most wizards would know who he was without the aid of his scar, but oddly enough, in the muggle world, not too many people have scars shaped into lightning bolts on them, so it was a necessity that he hide it. It was a 6 whole minutes since he'd gone back in before he finally exited the house, coming to seat himself in behind the wheel as Ginny gave him a stern look. Harry just rolled his eyes as he started the car. Albus, Lilly and James where sitting in the back as usual, Albus being in the middle with James to his left and Lilly to his right. When Harry began to drive he made sure no one on the street would see, and when they were far enough away, the car lifted into the air. The trip was smooth, which was usual unless there was a lot of turbulence. They talked about Quidditch for a while before they switched the subject to the new duelling club that has been put up. It turns out that Professor Longbottom, an old friend of Albus's parents and basically another uncle to the children. Neville was the herbology teacher and head of Griffindoor house at Hogwarts after the second wizarding war, and also the substitute for Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher when the original was unable to attend the lesson. But it still came as a surprise that he was the one to start the duelling club.

The car was now pulling into the station, it wasn't that long of a trip by flying car, but it felt like forever to Albus. They took two trolleys and loaded their carts onto them. The cages for James and Albus's pets seated on the top with a sticking charm placed on them so they didn't fall. The walked briskly into the station, making sure to avoid as many muggles as remotely possible, though they still got odd looks from the muggles that did see them, often giving them a raised eyebrow when they walked by. Lilly rode happily on the front of James's trolley, humming a happy tune as they neared their destination. She had been miserable the previous day with the fact that she couldn't go to Hogwarts for two more years, but was a lot more cheerful now, as after they had dropped Albus and James off at the train, she would be getting a pet of her own.

Albus suspected that she would either get an owl or a cat. She loved cute things such as them, but a mouse would also be possible as well. He just hoped she didn't get something that did like eating ferrets. But that was the least of Al's problems, what was really on his mind was what house he would be sorted into? Was James right about him being in Slytherin? No, he wasn't going to be in Slytherin, not in a million years. Though the thought never left his mind, something kept telling him that James was right, that he was going to be in the one house his parents had hated when they went.

He didn't get time to dwell on it as they neared the entrance to platform nine and three quarters. Lilly hopped off of James's trolley and trotted back to Ginny's side, waiting patiently for them to go through. James turned to his little brother and gave him a smug smirk before charging into the brick wall. No collision happened like there usually would be, he just simply disappeared through to the other side.

Albus's nerves where on fire, his whole body screamed for him to plead, beg even to his father, not to go to Hogwarts, to avoid the shame of being put in Slytherin for at least one more year. He would treasure that year so badly until he needed to go again, but one more year was what he desperately craved at this moment.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Harry standing there with a gentle smile on his face.

"Together?" he asked.

Albus immediately lost all his will, it was so hard to say no, even if he had pleaded and begged that would have only brought him more shame. He gave a small nod and a nervous smile before preparing himself, and with one charge, they were through.

The area was buzzing with activity, wizards young and old where here, rushing around to get their children to the train. Ginny and Lilly soon followed through, appearing just behind the two as James came running up to them with an excited gleam in his brown eyes.

"Dad, you would not believe what I just saw! Teddy was snogging Victoire, our Teddy and Victoire!" he exclaimed and panted at the same time. Harry raised an eyebrow at his eldest son before James continued "I asked him what he was doing and he said he was just seeing her off before he told me to get lost. He's so snogging her"

"You interrupted him? Your so much like Ron" Ginny said with a heaving sigh before Lilly spoke up.

"I hope those two get married, then Teddy will be an official member of the family" she cheered.

"Teddy already comes to our house for dinner four nights a week, why don't we just let him move in and be done with it" Harry laughed.

"If Teddy does move in, I could give him my room and share a room with Al" James offered, which got an immediate glare from Albus.

"I'll let you two share a room only when I want the house demolished" Harry replied.

James didn't get to reply to that as four familiar red heads came their way. They must have gotten here before them, though Albus didn't continue on with that thought as he noticed Rose. Her face had a look of utter relief, she must have been worrying about what house she would be in just as much as Al had. Lilly and Hugo started talking when they reached each other, both of them finding comfort in the fact they would be going to Hogwarts at the same time. Ron was going on about what house Rose would be in, which wasn't helping her at all. He even threw in a remark that if she didn't get into Griffindoor, he would disown her (But he got a smack on the head from both Hermione and Ginny). Luckily though, his attention turned to that of someone else that he pointed out.

"So that's little Scorpius. Make sure you beat him in every test Rosie. Thank god you inherited your mothers brains" Ron stated as he pointed out what he saw amongst the crowd.

They all turned to see a boy, who was obviously Scorpius, hugging his mother. His father, Draco Malfoy had a comforting hand on the boys shoulder. Scorpius looked just as much like his father as Albus did to Harry, having the same grey eyes, platinum blond hair and pointed face that his father had when he was eleven.

"And don't you go getting too friendly with him either, otherwise your gramps will kill me!" Ron stated.

"Ron, for heaven's sake. Don't try to turn them against each other before they've even started school!" Hermione exclaimed as she gave him another thump on the head.

A steaming hoot came from the train, signalling that it was nearly time to go. Hermione turned to Rose and listed off all the things that she should have, which she would give a nod to except for the ones like pranking materials, which she would always give a no to. Albus saw out of the corner of his eye that James was inching away from them, obviously trying to avoid any hugs and kisses, though unfortunately for him, Ginny was very observant.

"James Sirius Potter, don't think for a second that you can get away without a hug goodbye" Ginny warned, which stopped James in his tracks. He turned around with a solemn smile and wrapped their mother into a hug as she planted a kiss on his forehead. He then moved to Harry and hugged him, then to Lilly, who flung herself into his arms. Albus stood off to the side, his heart sinking as he watched them. He'd be getting hugs to, but if he was put into Slytherin, there would be no more hugs from his family, just glaring eyes and hated comments. Would his family disown him like Ron said he'd do to Rose, of course not. But nothing he said to reassure himself seemed to work. Though unknown to Al, Harry noticed the saddened look on his face and whispered into Ginny's ear. Ginny replied with a nod and began listing off what James should have had, like Hermione was doing to Rose, as Harry walked over to his youngest son. Al was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice Harry coming over, before he knelt down to Al's eye level and put a hand on his shoulder.

"You alright Al?" he asked with a comforting tone, as a mirror image of himself turned back to him. Albus opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again, he thought he knew the answer that his father would give him, but he opened his mouth one more time to voice his concerns.

"Dad, what if I am put in Slytherin?" he could see the answer coming already, a scathing remark about how he better not be put their otherwise he'd be disowned. It never came.

"Albus Severus Potter, you where named after two of the greatest headmasters at Hogwarts, and one of them was a Slytherin, and he was the bravest man I have ever known" he replied with a calm, gentle voice which caused Albus to have a questioning look on his face. He decided that he'd continue with it anyway.

"But just say that I am-" he was cut off.

"Then Slytherin house would have gained a wonderful, young wizard" Harry said reassuringly before he continued "But Albus, if it really means that much to you, you can chose Griffindoor, the sorting hat takes your choice into account"

"Really?" Albus asked, a small smile creeping up his face.

"Really"

Another steam filled hoot echoed through the station, signalling this was their last chance to get on the train. Harry turned his head back to his son from where it had been looking at the train.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Ready"

Harry got up from where he had been kneeling and pulled Albus into a hug. Al returned the gesture with a tight hug of his own. They were like this for a moment, just holding each other close in the others embrace, before Harry led his youngest son to the train, Callidus's cage in Al's hand. Albus gave his mother and Lilly warm hugs before giving his father one last solemn look, before getting a comforting smile back. He walked into the train carriage and looked around, wondering where Rose and James where, the first carriage was full, so where could they have gone?

"Al duck!" he heard a familiar voice shout. He was just coming to the second carriage when he obeyed the instruction and ducked. He felt something zoom over him and looked up to see a light much like a sparkler light, except without the stick connected to the light, floating around mid-air with sparks sprinkling off it.

Al turned to the open compartment next to him to see James, Rose and another of his many cousins, Roxanne. James had the window seat and was pointing his wand to where the sparkling light was. Obviously, he was the one that made it, though Albus's thought was stopped as the spark shot over his head again and evaporated, as he took a seat next to his brother, who moved the cage containing Nimbus over so he had room. Al glanced out the window and waved a final goodbye to his family. They waved enthusiastically back at him as the train began moving. Once, his family was out of sight he stopped. This was it, no turning back now.

"So, little brother, ready for those green robes" James said as he threw an arm around Al's shoulder. Albus tried to ignore him, though he was having a hard time doing it with James's arm on him and his constant teasing right in his ear.

"James shut up, making him nervous before this even happens isn't helping. I'm just as likely to be in Slytherin as Al is" Rose retorted for Albus, which caused James to laugh.

"No, your likely to be in either Griffindoor or Ravenclaw mrs know-it-all" James replied with a smug smirk before getting up and striding to the door of the compartment, with Nimbus in hand.

"I'm gonna go find Fred, you coming Roxie?" he asked as he moved out of the compartment , not waiting to hear her answer.

"Coming" she lifted the cage on her lap that contained her pet crow, she turned to Al with a smile before leaving "just ignore him Al, he's being an idiot"

"As usual" Albus replied with a small smile before she left. Roxanne knew what it was like to have an older brother that was extremely annoying, so she knew what he was going through. Rose went back to the book she had pulled out, the title read _Hogwarts, a history. _It was pretty funny to see Rose suddenly get a shocked look on her face and almost drop her book.

"Oh my god I can't believe I forgot, Al, can I see it!?" she suddenly gasped.

"See what?"

"Your wand, I didn't get to see it because I forgot to pack, so can I see it or not?" she asked again as Al pulled it from his left pocket, his right still containing the firework pellets he had been given. Rose's eyes lit up in awe much like his family's expression when he revealed the silver item.

"What's it made out of?" she asked as Albus put the wand back in his pocket.

"It's made of Silver birch wood, length ten, nice and supple, loyal nature and thestral tail hair core" he stated, his hand reaching over to Cal's cage and unlocking the latch. Callidus scrambled up his arm and coiled around the back of his neck again, as he nuzzled into Al's cheek, which got Albus to laugh a bit before he started stroking the top of the ferrets head.

"Thestral tail hair, do you know how rare that is to get? I hear there was only ever one other wand made out of it. You know, the one your dad threw away" Rose stated as she re-opened the book she had so abruptly closed.

"You mean the elder wand?" he asked, getting a simple nod in return. This subject was rarely talked about, the kids knew from an early age what there parents had done, what with all the fans out there that always rushed up to his mum and dad, or even him, James and Lilly, seeing as they where their children. Their parents told them whenever they asked, not wanting any secrets between them and there children, though there were still storeys they were reluctant to tell them, there time trying to find and destroy the Horcruxes and the final battle between He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would be two of them. The children also knew about the three Deathly Hallows that one time, Harry had all of them, but never all three at the same time. Harry in fact still had one of them, the invisibility cloak, which he only ever took out on special occasions.

Albus was about to continue to a different subject when they heard a knock on the compartment door, causing both his and Roses head to turn to it as the wooden door slid open to reveal a boy around the same age as them. He had dark chocolate brown hair almost as untidy as James's, his eyes were a greenish hazel and he had freckles splattered across his cheeks. He was wearing a dark blue jumper over a plain brown shirt. He also wore dark blue jeans and white/black sneakers. On his shoulder was a glossy feathered barn owl, it's big brown eyes gazing intently around the room.

"Um, is it alright if I take a seat in here, everywhere else seems to be full" he asked.

"Yeh, of course" Albus replied as they both gestured him in, the boy giving both of them thankful smiles before taking a seat next to Albus. He extended his hand to him for a handshake.

"I'm Mitchell, Mitchell Gruenberg, just call me Mitch though" he said as Albus took his hand and shook.

"Albus Potter, but just call me Al" he stated, already expecting to get the usual sudden scream of another fan of is father. Sometimes he was thankful that he looked so much like his dad, but when it came to Harry's crazy fans, he really wished he didn't. But it never came, instead Mitchell just continued with an introduction to Rose as if everything was normal. Maybe he didn't know who he was? But how would that work, every wizard on the planet must know about his dad, so why was he acting so casual?

Though Al didn't realise he would get his answer soon as Mitch pulled out a small book from his pocket and began to read a bit before the door suddenly opened wide again, only this time to reveal his older brother, a excited expression lit across his face.

"Al, what ever you do just act natural for a moment" he said as he closed the door and took a seat next to Rose.

Albus was about to ask what he meant before he heard thunderous footsteps and then two seconds later two boys rushed past the compartment, their faces plagued with boils and warts as they sprinted past. Then a few seconds later they stamped their way back to where ever they had come from.

As soon as they were well enough away, James burst out laughing. Albus raised an eyebrow to the older boy before his question was answered.

"Oh Al, you should have seen the looks on their faces" he laughed as he wiped a fake tear from his eye "me and Fred went to the compartment and started insulting them, then when they opened there mouths to shout at us (Insert fit of giggles here), oh it was just too funny"

He looked up to see the three children staring at him, all with raised eyebrows. Though James's attention quickly fell to the new kid in the compartment, Albus seemed to notice this and quickly began introductions.

"James, this is Mitch, Mitch this is James, my older brother" he said, gesturing to each of them in turn.

"Older and better you mean" he smirked, which got a glare from Albus, as Mitch extended a hand to James.

"As Al just said, I'm Mitch, pleasure to meet you" he smiled, James just glanced at the book he was holding in his left hand, before replying.

"Looks like weave got another bookworm" he sighed, which got Rose to speak up with a deadly glare painted across her face.

"Are you ever not rude?!" she exclaimed.

"Are you ever not boring?"

"At least she actually has a brain James!" Albus retorted.

"And your just as boring, besides, at least I'm not in Slytherin"

Albus was about to start yelling at him before Mitch interrupted.

"James, I think you'll probably want to run, those two people you pranked seem to know your in here" he said as he glanced out the door with a worried look on his face. James quickly bolted out of the compartment and ran back to the one Albus guessed held Roxanne and Fred, shutting the door with a slam. Mitch rolled his eyes as he sat back in his seat.

"No offence to you, but I think you need a new brother, that one seems to be a jerk" he stated as Rose and Al chuckled before answering simultaneously.

"You have no idea"

"So what's the deal with him, what was he even insulting you about?" he questioned as he pulled out the book he had been reading. The owl on his shoulder ruffled it's feathers a bit before giving a quick nip on his earlobe.

"Ouch, ok, I get it Knox, no need to get your feathers all out of place" he yelped as he pulled out some owl treats from his left pocket and fed them to Knox, who hummed with satisfaction.

"He's been going on about how Al will be sorted into Slytherin, but I don't know where he gets off on it, he was probably just as worried about it in his first year" Rose stated as her blue eyes rolled with exasperation.

"What's a "Slytherin", and what's this about being sorted?" he asked with a questioning tone, which got shocked looks from both Albus and Rose.

"Oh wait a sec, are you a muggle born?" Albus asked as most of the peaces started fitting together. Not knowing who his dad was, not knowing about the sorting, it made a lot more sense then it did before.

"Yes, both of my parents were muggles. Had me and my older brother who was three years older then me, then one day I found out I could do magic" he stated simply. Rose quickly began telling him about the four houses and the sorting, going into full detail about who had founded Hogwarts and the houses and all the rest. Mitch listened intently as she went on, occasionally tossing in his own questions before he finally asked again why had Albus been insulted.

"Because there's this big rivalry going on between Griffindoor and Slytherin, and James has got this idea that Al will be sorted into Slytherin and he would be the first Potter to ever be sorted into that house" she said.

"But what's so bad about being in Slytherin? It sounds just like any one of the other houses, just different name" Mitch asked.

"No, each of the houses are for different people, Griffindoor is for the bold and brave, Ravenclaw is for the curious and smart, Hufflepuff is for the people who are hard working and loyal and Slytherin is for the cunning and ambitious" she stated, which caused Albus to flinch as the last house was spoken.

"Again, why is it so bad, it doesn't sound like its a bad place to be?"

"A lot of the people in Slytherin aren't so nice, they usually insult people who are muggle born or pure bloods that have children with people that are muggle born"

"That just sounds like some people who don't know what there talking about, a few mean people doesn't mean the house is all bad. Besides, being cunning is just as important as being loyal or brave or smart, I mean I was cunning enough to get James to leave the cart wasn't I?" he questioned, which earned a shocked look from the other two "I thought you would have guessed, those two weren't really coming for him, I just said that to make him leave, it looked like you two were going to go ballistic on him if that little conversation continued"

"In all honesty, I think I would've" Al replied as he handed Callidus a sugared violet bean from the _Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans _he had next to him (The trolley came around during the house conversation, Al was sharing the beans he had bought with them).

"And am I going around saying that every muggle born I see is a "Filthy Mud-Blood!" he laughed as he tried to sound like what Rose had said an old rival of their parents would sound like when he said it, causing both of them to laugh as they shook their heads in agreement.

"Anyway, what house do you want to be in?" Mitch asked as he fed his owl more treats.

"I'm not actually sure. I want to be in Griffindoor but at least if I do go into Slytherin it won't seem so bad anymore. But I still would rather Griffindoor" he replied as Cal nibbled happily on the bean.

"What about you Rose?" Mitch asked as he turned to the red head.

"Either Ravenclaw or Griffindoor" she chimed as she plucked one of the beans from the open packet, a sort of brown colour that she popped into her mouth before speaking again "Yes, chocolate, your turn Al"

Albus closed his eyes and dipped his hand into the box, pulling out a half pink, half red bean and dropped it into his mouth and hummed happily "Tutti Fruity, your turn"

"Do these really come in every flavour? He asked as he closed his eyes and plucked a bean from the box, a green one with specks of orange. Albus and Rose tried not to laugh as he put the treat into his mouth and chewed, but no sooner had he started, he spat the bean out and it flew across the compartment, bouncing off the door and onto the floor.

"Oh my god what the hell!" he shouted as he looked like he was about to puke. The other two burst into laughter at their new friends expression "what flavour was that, vomit!?"

Even though he had been kidding about it being vomit, the other two laughed even harder, Albus rolling on the floor, clutching his sides as he tried to stop laughing. Thankfully for Mitch (Who's cheeks where now a bright scarlet) Rose stopped laughing long enough to tell him what the flavour was.

"That was vomit flavour!" she laughed even harder as Mitchell's mouth dropped into a gape.

"Does that answer your question?!" Albus asked through his laughter as he tried to sit up.

"Ha Ha, very funny, but maybe you would like to turn your attention to the bean box for a sec?" he said as he gestured to the box where he had gotten the bean from. Albus sat up and gazed at the box. The packet was now tipped to its side with a couple of beans rolling out of the opening, though what surprised him the most was the fact that half of Callidus was sticking out of it, his small front paws digging through the beans until he found another sugared violet and began nibbling into it.

"Cal!" Albus yelled in mock rage before the compartment burst into laughter again. Callidus seemed to be giving a confused look to Albus before he went back to nibbling into the bean he had taken.

"I think he's addicted to that flavour" Rose said as she calmed down enough to talk. Cal just kept nibbling at the bean until it was no more then crumbs of sugar. Rose turned her attention to Mitch before speaking.

"What house do you want to be in?" she asked as she set the packet of beans back up and put it onto the seat next to her, away from the small claws of the clever ferret.

"I don't really know, what one do you guys think I'll be in?" he replied with a question of his own.

"Well, maybe you'll be in Ravenclaw with all the reading you do" Albus replied.

"What? I doubt I'm smart enough for that house, this book is just a novel I like to read" he said as he pulled the book out into full view, Rose extended her hand for it and Mitch handed it over. She skimmed through a couple of pages before getting a very bemused look on her face as she handed it back "That book is nothing but rubbish, its impossible for a wizard to be alive as a skeleton, let alone perform magic like that, who wrote this?"

"Rose, it's a muggle novel, they don't know about magic like we do, they just write these story's for fun and entertainment for others, it's a fiction novel" Mitch stated calmly as he put the book back into his pocket. Rose didn't get to reply to that as a sudden steam filled hoot came from the train, they had arrived. The three went off quickly to the changing rooms to change into their robes, as they forgot to do it earlier. They were in a bit of a mad rush when they came out of the train, fully dressed in the plain black robes of the school, as they entered into the crowd of first years.

There where many faces that they didn't recognise, and a couple that looked familiar, but they we're quickly distracted from all the new faces around them as Albus and Rose heard a familiar voice.

"Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!" the voice called. Albus and Rose immediately ran to the source of the voice, Mitch following close behind as Knox leapt from his shoulder and flew just overhead. Albus and Rose burst from the crowd to find the one who had been calling, Hagrid.

"Hagrid!" they both exclaimed as the half giant turned to face them, only to get tackled into a bear hug by both of the children. Both of them had been around Hagrid for most of their lives. He, visited regularly to both of their family's since he knew them when they had come to Hogwarts, and every time he came, he always brought with him a creature from the school grounds (Though Ginny wasn't fond of it). At one point, when Albus was five, the half giant had brought in a baby Acromantula which he had brought to Albus to help name him. It was very well trained, so it was no harm to the children, Hagrid had said that the baby was one of many sons of his old friend Aragog and so the young Albus promptly named him Arogog ll. Albus had become very fond of the spider and asked Hagrid to bring him around whenever he could, which Hagrid had gladly agreed to after he got permission from his parents (Ginny was again not too happy about it). But whenever he couldn't, Albus always asked how he was doing, which Hagrid would always reply with a happy tone that he was doing fine.

"Hey there you two!" he replied happily as he ruffled Al's hair and gave a one armed hug to Rose "ya ready for yer first year at Hogwarts?"

Both of them nodded happily as more of the first years came over.

"How's Arogog?" Albus asked, he never missed an opportunity to ask what was happening to his eight-legged friend.

"He's doin' fine, excited to be seein' yah, practically crawlen' all over the walls when I told him" he replied with a chuckle at the usual question, but stopped and glanced behind them "who's this then?"

Albus and Rose turned around to see Mitch glancing up at Hagrid, his hazel eyes wide as he stared at the half giant, Knox landing on his should as he ruffled his feathers. Rose quickly began introductions.

"Hagrid, this is our new friend Mitchell, we met him on the train ride here" she said as Mitch came out of his stupor and extended his hand to the game keeper.

"Just call me Mitch, it's a pleasure to meet you" he said with a small smile as Hagrid took his hand and shook, which caused Mitch silently yelp as his arm was jerked up and down.

"Great to meet ya." "So Al, Rosie. Ya still comin' round for tea tomorrow?" he said as he turned toward them.

Both of the children shook their heads rapidly in reply which got a big grin from Hagrid, before he turned to Mitch once again.

"Your welcome to come to" he said, which got a bright smile and thank you from Mitch. Once all of the first years were there, he led them down a path towards the black lake. Once there, Hagrid showed them the boats lined up on the dock, stating clearly for there to be four in every boat.

The kids ran around, desperate to get a boat with their friends. They tried almost every boat, but it was always filled to the brim, or at least all of them were, save one. It was the last boat on the dock, all the other ones were filled, but Albus and Rose were a bit reluctant. Why? This last boat contained one person, Scorpius Malfoy.

"Come on, it's the last boat" Mitch said as he went over to the boat. Rose was about to protest but Albus also began to follow (Slowly though). Rose gave a heaving sigh and followed suit (much slower then Albus though). As Mitch came closer to the boat, Scorpius turned his grey, stormy eyes to them.

"Hi, um would you mind if we get on this boat? The rest are all full" Mitch asked, which got a small nod of agreement in reply. Mitch took a steady step onto the boat and made room for the others, who all wearily sat down. Albus heard Hagrid shout something but couldn't make out what it was. The boat being a bit too far away to hear, from the half giants boat. As it suddenly began to glide across the water, the only illumination was that of the lamps tied to the front and back of the boat, and the lights coming from the castle up ahead... Hogwarts. Albus stared at the castle, almost attracted to it like a moth was to a lamp-light, if he wasn't sane, then he could have very well jumped out of the boat and swum to the glowing castle. Thankfully, there was a new conversation to distract him from the ludicrous idea that had formed, but Al wasn't sure he liked what it was.

"Hi, I'm Mitchell Gruenberg, just call me Mitch though" he said with a smile as he extended his hand to the blond.

"I'm Scorpius, Scorpius Malfoy, pleasure to meet you" he replied with a small smile as he took Mitch's hand and shook.

"These are my friends, Rose Weasley, and Albus Potter" he said as he pointed to each of them in turn. Albus and Rose each gave a small smile of their own as Scorpius's eyes seemed to widen quite a bit.

"Oh, weren't your parents old rivals with my dad?" he questioned the two, as they nodded slowly "well all the same, it's still a pleasure to meet both of you"

Albus was more then a little shocked, what with the son of his fathers old rival being nice when he knows that their parents didn't get along so well. Maybe he'd miss read Scorpius based on his parents like usually so many did him? Well in any case, Albus wasn't about to be the one that turns this potential friend into an enemy, and if James's prediction about him being in Slytherin actually happens, he'd need all the friends he could get.

"Likewise" Rose replied, obviously coming to the same conclusion that Albus had just come to. She turned to look at the castle, it's glowing lights attracting her eyes as they did Al's, before speaking "looks beautiful doesn't it?"

"What's the bet it's way more beautiful inside" Mitch stated as he was drawn to the lights. They were almost at the dock, so they didn't have long to wait before they left the boat.

The boat came to a slow stop just in front of the dock where the first years got off and waited patiently for Hagrid to instruct them. As the four exited the boat, Scorpius seemed to be looking a bit woozy, he body shaking a bit as his foot landed on the ground. Albus tuned to him with a raised eyebrow.

"You alright there Scorpius?" he asked as Rose and Mitch turned to their new friend with concern painted across there faces.

"Yeh, I'm fine, I just get a bit boat sick, that's all" he stated with a reassuring smile as he walked over to them, all signs of sickness absent from his body as they made their way to Hagrid.

The half giant stated that they would need to wait at the door that he stood by for the waiting deputy headmaster. And with that, Hagrid walked off back to his house, which was on the school grounds near the dark forest. He needed it to be close for his job as game keeper and care of magical creatures professor. Albus was seriously hoping that he was still professor of that class by the time he was in third year, which was when he would be able to take the great class.

Many of the other students started to converse with each other. Some were talking about Quidditch, others were talking about which classes they thought they would be best at, but most were talking about the one thing Albus was still dreading, the sorting. It was still on his mind, no matter what anyone said to him, he still dreaded being put in Slytherin, though he wasn't as afraid of it as before. He still wanted to be in Griffindoor.

It was amazing at how lucky he was, because it was then another distraction occurred, to take his mind off of his troubled thoughts.

"Mitch!" a voice called from behind Albus, as the four children turned to look in the direction of the call. From the crowd of first years came two. The first was a boy with dirty blond hair that was half way between messy and straight with curls around the sides. His eyes were a sort of darkish blue with a greenish hue to them. Albus guessed that he was the one who called. The second was a girl, her hair was a deep ebony black that came down just below her shoulder blades. Not a single hair was out of place on her skull. Her eyes were a deep shade of emerald green, almost as green as Al's own eyes, just not quite there though. Mitch seemed to know them as a smile came across his face when he walked over to them.

"Aw, you already made friends? Our little boy's growing up" the boy said as he wiped an imaginary tear from his eyes, nudging the girls side with his elbow in the process,as she laughed a bit.

"I can't believe you were so worried about coming here. You always over react about these things" the girl stated with a warm smile, as she playfully punched Mitchell's shoulder, his eyes rolling at the two as he motioned Albus, Rose and Scorpius over to them.

"Do you guys think you could stop laughing long enough so I can introduce them to you?" he asked as the three drew closer. The two stopped laughing and waited patiently as Mitch began to speak again "better, ok, this is Scorpius Malfoy, Rose Weasley and Albus Potter, my new friends"

"Oh my gosh your the son of Harry potter?!" the girl spoke with a shocked look on her face as Albus nodded slowly. There's that fame again. It seemed as if Al couldn't be anywhere without someone recognising him.

"Well then mr Potter, it is a pleasure and an honour to be in your presence" the blond said with a mock bow, a big grin plastered to his face. Mitch simply raised an eyebrow before continuing, still unaware of Albus's fathers fame.

"Albus, Rose and Scorpius, this is Cole Richardson" he stated as he gestured to the boy who still wore a sarcastic grin "And Piper Richardson, my cousins"

That explained why they seemed to know Mitch so well. The three shook hands, with the two cousins with bright smiles, which they were happy to give back. Thankfully for Al they didn't keep ranting on about how famous his dad was or if they could talk him into getting an autograph from his father. In fact, they just treated him like a normal person, aside from the initial outburst. After talking a bit to the two cousins, it was revealed to Albus that Cole, apparently the oldest out of the trio, was sort of like another James. Same comical and sarcastic nature as James, but a whole lot nicer to his sibling and cousin. Piper seemed really sweet, kind and sort of joking to the people she met, but not as comical as her older sibling.

It so turned out that Albus was older then her by one day, her birthday being today. They only got a few minutes of conversation before they saw the door Hagrid had been standing by before, open to reveal to a surprised Albus,... Neville Longbottom.

"Good evening children, I hope your journey was pleasant" he said with a warm smile, giving a wink to Albus and Rose, as his eyes scanned over the students "if you would follow me please, we can begin the sorting"

All the fear and anxiety that had been coming at Albus in small doses came back and hit him like a freight train. His heart was skipping so many beats that he was afraid that he was about to die. He desperately wanted to run out of the crowd and avoid the whole thing, but all he could do now was follow behind Neville as he led the children through the door and out into the dining hall.

The place was packed. Many people were chatting and laughing at the long wooden tables, there were four in all (Tables), one for each house. They were being led down right through the middle, right to the front of the table set up for the professors and the head mistress, Mcgonagall.

Like Neville and Hagrid, Minerva Mcgonagall was a good friend to both the Potters and Weasley's, sometimes coming around for a short visit, and even though she was strict, she was always fair to all the houses, never favouring one house over the other, not even her old house of Griffindoor. She loved all of the children of both family's like they were her own grandchildren, but she had no soft spots, which she had proven the year prior with all the Owls that were sent on regard of James, as he got in trouble very, very, very often.

"Everyone!" she called out to the students, who all quickly fell into silence "We will now commence with the sorting!"

She handed a big, brown, ragged hat to Neville who had brought out a big scroll. It seemed to have a sort of split in the middle of it, which caused Albus to have a confused look on his face. The confused look soon turned to fear as Neville began reading out a name, to which a girl with shoulder length blond hair, who was apparently named Alice Abigail, stepped up to a large chair and sat down. Neville placed the big hat on her head.

Albus had not expected for the sorting to begin so soon. His eyes quickly turned to the tables, desperately searching for a familiar face. The emerald green orbs soon fell on James, his horribly untidy hair giving away his location immediately, but surprisingly, there was a concerned look that adorned his face, was it for him? If it wasn't why was he looking at Albus? These thoughts confused Albus immensely, so he promptly turned away from James's brown gaze, but he could still feel the brown eyes boring into him. Albus was quickly distracted as the long slit on the hat opened and the hat spoke.

"Hufflepuff!" it shouted and cheers suddenly erupted from one of the tables that Albus assumed to be filled with Hufflepuff students as, Alice quickly strode down to it, a relieved smile adorned her face.

The sorting seemingly went by slowly, time taunting Albus as the dreaded moment came ever closer. It felt like hours to him before a familiar name was called.

"Gruenberg, Mitchell" Neville stated as clearly as he could. Albus turned to see Mitch give him a small wave before slowly making his way up to the chair, Knox taking flight from his shoulder and landing on one of the bars on the chandeliers. It was obvious by the unsure steps he took that he was nervous about the sorting, though far from what Albus was. He sat down in the chair and Neville placed the hat onto his head, in which then silence and murmurs overtook. It was a while before anything happened, and many people didn't even notice what happened, but Albus did. He could clearly see a shocked look befall his friend's face, and for a short second there, he could have sworn he saw his hazel eyes get a glint of gold in them. Albus just thought that his own eyes where playing tricks on him but he didn't get time to dwell on it as the sorting hats voice rang out.

"Griffindoor!" it shouted and Albus saw a tiny smile creep upon Mitch's face as cheers from the Griffindoor table soon drowned out all other noise. Mitch quickly took the hat off and gave it back to Neville as he quickly made his way to an empty seat at the table, Knox leaving the perch he had taken in favour of Mitch's shoulder once again & getting a couple of claps on the back and polite hello's from the other students. Albus even noticed Victoire giving a nice hello to him.

Albus didn't know why he was getting so much applause but was still happy that he was getting such a warm welcome. After the applause had subsided, the sorting continued, and Al's fear returned as time ebbed on by, his name getting closer and closer with every child called to the hat. He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to the left to see Rose, a warm, comforting smile light up her face. He also saw Cole, Scorpius and Piper giving him much the same faces to. Was his fear really that obvious? Al shook his head a bit and put a smile where his frown used to be. He was touched that his friends, even the ones he'd only just met today, were giving him there encouragement. Though unfortunately this small moment was put to an abrupt end as the next name was called.

"Malfoy, Scorpius"

All eyes shifted to Scorpius, his own pair wide with fear as he very, very slowly made his way up to the chair. The young Malfoy seemed almost as worried as Albus was, maybe even more. The hat was placed onto Scorpius's platinum blond hair and his sorting began, Albus was seriously hoping that he would be in Slytherin. The reasons being that if Scorpius was put there, then maybe that meant he might have a chance to be in Griffindoor? He didn't know how that made the least bit of sense. Maybe, the fact that Scorpius had the same chance of being in another house as Albus had of being put into Slytherin. Would that mean that Albus had the same chance? That was what Albus had been thinking, and even if he was wrong and was put into Slytherin, he would at least have one friend already there.

Though that unfortunately didn't seem to be the case.

"Ravenclaw!" the hat exclaimed. Albus's mouth dropped open, so did Rose's, this was what they had been least expecting. Cheers came from the table of Ravenclaw as Scorpius made his way quickly over to the table. Most of the Slytherins mouths were open too, as well as many Griffindoors. Actually, almost everybody's mouth was open, wether it be for cheering, or just gaping open in shock.

Albus was completely in shock for most of the rest of the sorting, just trying to process what had just happened. He wasn't sure he'd even heard them correctly. He didn't have a problem with him being in Ravenclaw, but it had been very unexpected. But had he missed something? Had he missed the signs that would indicate the young Malfoy would be suited to a Ravenclaw life? To be fair, he only met the boy on the boat a couple of minutes ago. No one could possibly know everything about a person in only a couple of minutes.

"Potter, Albus"

His eyes quickly widened, it couldn't be his turn so quickly after Scorpius, there should have been more people. But it seemed that while he was contemplating his thoughts, he had missed the last four people. Apparently, time doesn't wait for one to stop thinking before throwing more onto their plate.

He took one trembling step forward, then another, slowly making his way to Neville who gave him a reassuring smile as he inched ever closer. By the time he was sitting in the chair, his heart was pounding against his chest, threatening to burst from his rib-cage as Neville gently placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. It calmed him to a small extent, but he was far from actually calm as the hat neared closer to his head. The hat was finally placed onto his head and it nearly fell over his eyes. If Albus looked down, he could see the closest students and first years, and if he looked up, all he could see was hat.

"_Hmm, another Potter" _he heard a voice in his head, realising it was the hat, what else could it be? _"clever aren't you? Much more interesting then that brother you've got there, he was way too easy, being either Griffindoor or Slytherin, and even then he was a bit more Griffindoor"_

Albus smiled a bit inwardly, he didn't beat James in much, but when he did it always got him to smile at least a little.

_"But you Albus, you are not such an open book, much more complex is what you are" _the hat stated _"You seem to have a bit of every house, a bit of Griffindoor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw... And Slytherin"_

Albus silently began to panic as the last house was said. He started repeating a few words in his head like it was a chant. The very same words his father had said all those years ago, not Slytherin.

_"Not Slytherin you say? You are a lot like your father, he said those exact same words all those years ago, but why not Slytherin? You have some qualities that would fit nicely into that house" _the hat said as it started listing the reasons _"many think your a terrible lier but they are so, so wrong. You've been keeping a secret from your family for years now, haven't you? The only person that's actually came close to knowing was Luna Lovegood, wasn't it? You've been putting up a innocent act of being the last person that would lie, but that is all it is, an act"_

Albus was definitely panicking now, he could feel the hat poking around his mind, unravelling his deepest secrets, as he tried to hide them as best he could.

_"You also have an ambition, to be free of your father and brother's shadow, to be your own person, not some copy of your dad" _it stated _"and if the reasoning is because you don't want to become a dark wizard, like the death eaters in the second war, then you can stop, because the people I have just sorted into that house are kind and decent. Well, most if not all. Or is it because you think your family will love you that much less if your put there? I've seen the memory of you and your father, he would certainly not love you any less if you were put there, and I doubt Ginny would either. Besides, if you were put into Slytherin, then you could be free, you could be free of their shadows, free to be your own man"_

The last words were tugging at Al's heart strings, he so desperately wanted to be free, but he also had something else to prove. It was a bit childish, surely, but he was desperate to prove James wrong, he could be brave, even though he shy'ed away from most troubling things, he still could.

_"But you still have many qualities that do not fit with Slytherin. You are smart, you inherited the brains between your siblings, and you try to plan ahead, these would work well in Ravenclaw. You are certainly brave to, and hilariously loyal. My boy, I do believe you would do well in any house I set you in, so, I leave the choice to you" _Albus's hopes skyrocketed _"but be warned, if you do choose Griffindoor, it will be all that much harder for you to be seen as your own person, and I want you to promise me that what ever house you do choose, it will be of your own will, not because of a fear that you will be rejected, or because of your own pride to prove your brother wrong, choose this house for yourself"_

Albus thought long and hard, and by this time so much tension had been built up in the room over the young Potter's house that barely anyone could reframe from murmuring to each other. But Albus had chosen, and he would stick with his choice.

_"Very well, and I must note that your reasoning is somewhat questionable, but noble all the same, good luck" _the hat replied as it readied itself to shout out the young Potters house.

**Authors note: **yes yes, I know Im horribly evil for doing this to you all, but I must, for reasons my own. Did any of you expect Scorpius to be put into Ravenclaw? I put him there because I've been reading a lot of fan fiction and not one I have seen yet has put him into Ravenclaw. Now as always, please review your questions and I shall answer you unless it is a plot spoiler question, and also, if any of you guess what book Mitch was reading I shall announce the correct guessers name in the authors note next chapter. Good luck to you all and I'll catch you all later, see you next time :D


	5. Chapter 4: the surprises just won't stop

**Authors Note: **hey people, I'm so, so, so sorry, this chapter isn't even as long as the other one and it still took forever. Again I'm so sorry (Please don't shoot me! XD). As you all know I do not own Harry Potter or any of their Characters, but I do own my OCs and plot. As promised, I will state the correct guessers of the book Mitch was reading on the train in the previous chapter now.

Animagus Sugar Glider guessed Skulduggery Pleasant :D

Congratulations, you have won five MILLION cookies, they will be delivered in about, two hundred years time, if my owl doesn't crash into too many trees XD

So now, enjoy the story.

**Chapter 4: the surprises just won't stop!**

_"Very well, and I must note that your reasoning is somewhat questionable, but noble all the same, good luck" _the hat replied as it readied itself to shout out the young Potters house.

Albus had given the hat his choice, and he wasn't about to change it. He had to admit that what the hat said was right, he had a lot of qualities that would go nicely with being in Slytherin, and the ever present fact that if he was put into that house, he could be free. He very well could have been free from his father's shadow. He loved Harry to death and never wanted him to go away, but he also, though it was only a small part of him that felt like that, resented him. Harry's fame from the war never left the family, many people would race over to them while they were walking down the street or something and start asking for autographs. But that wasn't what bothered him the most about Harry's fame, it was the fact that almost everyone came running to him when neither Harry or Ginny was around, always commenting on how much he looked like his father or what house he wanted to be sorted into when he finally arrived at Hogwarts. James and Lilly went through the same thing, but whenever all three of them were together and the fans came running up to them, it seemed Albus always took the brunt of it, probably because he looked so much like Harry.

And it wasn't just Harry's shadow that he needed to escape from, it was James's shadow to. James seemed to be better at everything then him, making friends, pulling pranks, Quidditch, the list was endless. It was fairly rare that someone would say he was better then James at something, like wizards chess for example, but the great things like duelling and, again, Quidditch, seemed to overshadow any abilities Albus had by a long shot. He resented James far more then his father, but was still willing to go to any lengths to help his family, whether it be just simple work around the house, to (against his better judgment) helping James with a prank. He'd even lay down his life if it would save his family from some unimaginable disaster. But his choice was something he set for himself, he needed to prove to himself that he could be his own person, to free himself from his family's ever looming shadow. The hat shouted his new house out.

"Griffindor!"

The Griffindor students erupted into cheers & the noise was almost deafening as he put a smile on his face & gave the hat back to Neville, who gave him a caring smile and a wink. Albus ran down to the table and took a seat next to Mitch who gave him a friendly clap on the back. A thousand people seemed to wash over him at once, all congratulating him or something of the sort. Albus tried to make himself as small as he could, shying away from all the attention he was getting as more people swarmed over him. He was thankful though that some familiar faces managed to get the crowd to quiet down and give him space to breath, namely his cousins Fred, Roxanne and Victoire.

"Come on, give the kid some space!" Fred yelled over the crowd as the three Weasley's stood in front of Albus. They started backing off, but excited whispers could still be heard from around the table as his cousins sat down beside him.

"Congrats on making Griffindor" Fred said as he sat down to the right of Albus, giving him a playful punch in the shoulder, which Al returned with a small smile as the sorting continued.

"Thanks, really glad I don't need to worry about it anymore" he replied with a sigh.

"Told you James was just being stupid" Roxanne chimed in next to Fred.

"Yeh, guess you were right"

"Roxie, right, that's impossible" laughed Fred as he received a smack on the shoulder from Roxanne. Victoire leaned past Mitch and gave Al a light tap on the shoulder, which got him to turn his attention to her.

"When you get up to the bedrooms Al, go to the bed nearest to the second window" she told him as the confused boy raised his eyebrow, but she refused to talk any further on the matter and skilfully changed the subject "So do we get some introductions here or not?"

"Oh, right, well you met my cousin Victoire haven't you Mitch?" he questioned, which he nodded to "well then, Mitch, these are my other cousins, Fred and Roxanne"

"As my cousin just said, I'm Fred" he said with a smug grin as he leaned past Al and extended his hand, Mitch was about to take it when Roxie cut in "don't shake his hand!"

Mitchell's hand shot back before they had a chance to shake, which brought a frown to Fred's face as he turned to his sister with a glare.

"Roxie! I nearly got him, why do you always need to ruin my fun!" he whined as Roxanne rolled her eyes.

"Why do you always need to go and prank every person in sight. I'm so sorry, I'm Roxie, this dimwit is my older brother"

Albus noticed what she was talking about when he saw a black band strapped around Fred's wrist. Though he didn't realise until later that there was a button strapped to Fred's palm that, when pressed, would emit an electric shock. Roxanne and Fred began to have one of their quiet shouting matches as to not interrupt the sorting as it continued. Al felt another light tap on his shoulder and turned to see Mitch giving him a questioning look.

"So what was with all the psycho fans that these three needed to get rid of" he asked, his hazel eyes searching for answers while Victoire answered for him.

"My uncle, or his dad, which ever you prefer, is famous because he's the one that defeated, um, You-know-who" she replied to his question as Mitch turned his attention to her.

"Im not sure I know of this You-know-who person. Was he a criminal?" he asked.

"Oh boy, do you have a lot to learn"

Victoire quickly gave him the short version of the story, Mitchell's eyes growing bigger and bigger by the second as he eagerly drank up all of the information that was given to him. He slowly turned back to Albus once the story was over, his eyes were back to normal though, which seemed to be a good sign for Albus as he didn't want to be gushed over again with the praise and autograph requests he was so used to.

"So your dad saved the whole wizarding world, twice, and the first time he did it he was no older than one? Sounds like you get a lot of fan mail" he stated.

"Trust me, you have no idea" Albus groaned.

"Actually, he does, he's not as famous as your dad, but he's still is famous" Victoire said as he got a confused look from Albus and a sharp glare from Mitch. Al would have asked what she meant, but a name was soon called out that he recognised.

"Richardson, Cole"

Albus could swear that Mitch's head did a one eighty turn at the sound of his cousins name. His eyes grew wide as Cole proudly walked up to the chair and sat down. Al also saw Piper with much the same look, green eyes wide while she stood in the crowd. Albus guessed that he'd be in Griffindor, seeing as he was sort of like his brother in terms of easygoing natures. Though he still didn't know Cole too well, it was his best guess, which he decided to confirm with someone who would know better.

"What house do you think Cole will be in?" he asked Mitch, who was still watching the sorting hat intently.

"Hufflepuff"

Albus didn't even get a chance to ask why before the hat shouted out the house.

"Hufflepuff!" it called, and the table erupted into cheers as a smug grin ran up Cole's face. He quickly took the hat off and gave it back to Neville before racing down to his new house, where he was greeted with warm smiles all around.

"How'd you know he was gonna be in Hufflepuff? My bet was on Griffindor" Albus asked.

"It's all in the personality, sure Cole is brave but he's far more loyal than that" Mitch replied as he eased himself back into the chair, he had been bolt upright when his cousin' name was called.

"Richardson, Piper" Neville called, Mitch was again sitting bolt upright as Piper slowly made her way to the chair.

"Ok then, what about Piper?" Albus asked.

"Either Ravenclaw or Slytherin" he stated calmly, but Albus's eyes went wide when he heard the last house.

"Why Slytherin, she seemed really nice when we were waiting outside"

"And she is really nice"

"But then why Slytherin?"

"I thought we got over this _it's bad to be in Slytherin _thing, Piper is one of the nicest people I know, and she's my cousin, most siblings and cousins fight a lot" he stated calmly, giving Albus a look on the last few words. Albus could guess what he meant by that statement "but she is really tricky sometimes, she could get out of almost any wrong doing placed on her when we were at home. So just because she gets placed into that house doesn't mean she's some horrible person"

"Ok, I get it, sorry" Albus replied in a small voice, he had completely forgotten the whole reason he chose to be in Griffindor. His goal was to try and end this rivalry between the two houses, and the hat said to him it would be easier if he was placed into Slytherin, but he was going to be the first Griffindor to befriend a Slytherin. He also wanted to prove that he was ready to be his own person, to be an individual by freeing himself on his own, not by what house he was placed in. If anything, he was happy that one of his friends was in that house, it would make, making friends easier.

"Slytherin!"

The stated table erupted into cheers as Piper quickly strode down to the table, high-fiving a couple of girls as she sat down next to them. Mitch seemed to smirk at this, his prediction coming true obviously set into his thoughts as he stroked the golden brown feathers of his barn owl. But Albus was distracted from the smirk of pride that Mitch had on his face, when he noticed Rose in the dwindling crowd, her blue eyes wide as another kid was called to the chair, time seemingly taunting her like it had done Albus. Rose's own eye caught sight of him and she looked to Al pleadingly, like maybe somehow he could get her out of this. She knew he couldn't, but she was desperate. What if her father wasn't joking about disowning her back at the train station? What if her mother secretly wanted her to be placed into Griffindor and disowned her like her dad said? Albus could read her like an open book. He, after all, had been feeling the same way only minutes ago. He put his best smile on for her, a single attempt to calm her down. Which seemingly did. Her shoulders seemed to relax a bit like some type of weight had been taken off them, and a small smile came to her face to. Though it was short lived.

"Weasley, Rose"

The smile quickly vanished as a look of pure terror crossed her face within two seconds. Albus gave her a small thumbs up and nodded to the chair, which she was ever dreading to go to. She took one hesitant step forward, then another, and within the next three, she was there. The terrified look had all but vanished as she sat down on the smooth wood, she kept a blank poker face on, not letting a single emotion out through facial expression. But Albus wasn't deceived by the clever mask she wore & he could see straight through it. It was something he had been good at ever since he had known what a lie was, and it came in handy when James tried to lure him into one of his many pranks. At one point in his life, when he was no older than three, his brother had already become accustomed to the way of the pranking world and had set up an elaborate plan to publicly humiliate Albus in front of his parents and relatives.

(_Flash back, Albus 3, James 4, Lilly 1_)

"Al" James called. Albus's head turned from where he had been stacking different coloured blocks with different letters on them into a tower. His bright green eyes finding his brother coming to him from the doorway that led out to the backyard were his family were having dinner with his various uncles, aunts and cousins. "Mummy and daddy, want you to come to the backyard, it's important"

Usually Al would have quickly followed James to their parents, not even bothering to ask what he was needed for, as he ran to them as fast as his tiny feet could carry him. That is, if James hadn't been lying.

"Go away Jamie, you just want to pull mowe pwanks on me" Albus answered as he went back to stacking his blocks. Though he was still having trouble using the letter R in his words. He knew how to spell a lot more words then most children his age, and that was saying something.

"Nuh ah, honest, daddy and mummy need you to come out back" he exclaimed, his tone sounding desperate. Too desperate.

It struck Albus as obvious, like it was being spelled out to him in big bold letters. The way James's voice was so imbued with worry and need, that at the time, Albus had never heard come from him in all of his short life. James simply didn't use worry or need in his words. Never. Not to mention the way something seemed to glow mischievously in his brown eyes, which he never had unless something funny (to him at least) was about to happen, and even more so when that something was of his own creation. Those few simple details simply screamed to Al that James was lying, it all seemed so obvious to him that he didn't really get why others had trouble distinguishing the truth from lies until later in life.

"Come on Al, please come out back" he pleaded. Albus simply ignored him, but James decided that if Al wouldn't come willingly, then he'd come forcefully. James quickly crossed to where his brother was sitting and tugged on his arm, Albus tried to pull away from the older boy but by this time James had begun to drag him across the carpeted floor. Unfortunately for the struggling three year old, being younger and all did have its disadvantages, such as James being stronger then Al by a fair margin. The only real thing Albus could do was try to wiggle himself out of James's grip, and even that was near impossible as James seemed to have a vice like hold on his arm, as they neared ever closer to the door. There was one last option that Albus hadn't tried. It would most certainly get him out of this situation, but Albus didn't really have time to think of the consequences.

"Daddy!" he screamed.

The reaction was almost instantaneous, the two boy's father came rushing from his seat at the outside table, as he swung open the door. The door had been open slightly, though it wasn't open enough for Albus to have squeezed through without opening it a bit more, and Harry had full on swung the door as wide as it would go. Big mistake on his part. On top of the door had been a medium sized bucket that had been carefully placed so it would not fall until someone opened the door wide enough. The bucket was filled to the brim with a clear liquid that was called vanishing ink that when splashed over anything, would make anything but skin and hair vanish. The ink quickly took effect as Harry's top slowly became transparent, though thankfully he had enough sense to make a run for the bathroom as his jeans started to do the same. He had just made it to the stairs when James called after him.

"Daddy! That was meant to happen to Al, you ruined my prank!" he cried unhappily as he folded his small arms across his puffed out chest.

Harry sighed as he continued his way up the stairs, mumbling something about how he was being told off by a four year old as his shirt completely vanished, and his pants were almost completely gone by the time he was out of sight (Yes he was wearing underwear, no the kids saw nothing that would have mentally scarred them for life).

(_end of flashback_)

To say the least, James (after a few more failed attempts) completely gave up on trying to get Albus to fall for any of his pranks verbally. Though, the middle child still fell for many more pranks that James hadn't used verbal words to lure him with.

And much like then, it seemed so obvious that Rose was everything but calm. The way her terrified expression vanished so quickly, or how her fingers were rubbing together, the pace they were going quickening when the hat was placed over her head. It was just too obvious for him, any other person would have probably believed that Rose was one of the calmest people up there, but they would have been wrong. When the hat was finally placed onto her fiery red hair, the hat didn't even think twice.

"Ravenclaw!" it shouted.

The Ravenclaw table burst into cheers and claps as the house was called. Rose's eyes found Albus's once again, her blue eyes begging his green for some type of reassurance that she so desperately needed. Albus gave her a bright smile. He honestly couldn't care less in what house she was placed in, he was happy for her. Rose returned his smile with one of her own before she raced down to the table, taking a seat next to Scorpius who happily congratulated her.

"Well would you look at that, first Weasley to ever be placed in a house that isn't Griffindor" Fred said with a amused look plastered onto his face.

"She definitely inherited aunt Hermione's smarts if she wound up there" Roxanne commented as the sorting continued, but it wasn't long before it was over. There where only five people left when Rose went up.

"We will now have announcements from headmistress Mcgonagall" Neville announced, which caused most of the students from every table to give a heaving sigh.

Albus didn't join in with the sigh, but he was a bit annoyed. He hadn't had anything since breakfast and the beans he had on the train were hardly compensating for his hunger. He hoped the announcements would go quickly.

Minerva stood up in her seat, raising her right hand. Everyone quickly fell silent, they all knew how strict she could be, and none of them dare defy her. She let the silence take over for a moment before speaking.

"There is only one announcement this evening" she stated calmly, to which everyone gave another sigh, but this one was of relief "and that is that all announcements will be postponed until after the feast, thank you"

With one click of her fingers, enormous amounts of food were spread out before the hungry children as they all cheered happily and began to pile their plates with food. This time, Albus did join in with the rest of the children when they shoved food onto their plates, but was a bit more sensible with what he put on the cutlery.

He had five chicken drumsticks, peas, mashed-potato smothered with gravy, and half a steak (Ok, not that much more suitable then the rest but it's better then having a plate full of food that can nearly reach the roof)

"Sure you got enough?" Mitch asked jokingly as he gestured to the plate. Al gave a guilty shrug before noticing his friend's plate.

"I think I should be asking you the same thing" Albus countered as he gestured to the empty plate that sat in front of his friend "if you don't hurry, everything will be gone"

"I'm not hungry" he replied simply as he fed Knox more owl treats.

"Did you eat something other then the beans that we had on the train ride?"

"Nope"

"Big breakfast?"

"No"

"Have you had anything other then the beans on the train?"

"Does a goblet of water count?" he replied as he took a sip from said goblet. Al merely looked at him with a look of pure surprise as his mouth fell into a gape, he thought that he'd probably starve to death without one of the main meals in his day, namely breakfast.

"Dude, if you keep gaping at me like that, something will crawl into your mouth, and make a nest" Mitch commented with a raised eyebrow, which caused Albus to shut his mouth immediately. Mitch shook his head with an amused grin before he stared at Albus, or rather, the pink whiskered nose that now pertruded from his friend's robe pocket. Mitch took a moment to rub his eyes before he answered. The weird look he was once again getting from the confused boy "I think you have a hitch hiker, look at your robe pocket"

Albus raised an eyebrow before complying, pulling part of his robes back to get a better look at the pocket before he let out a startled gasp. The small fury head of Callidus poked it's way out of his pocket before looking up to Albus, almost seemingly knowing he was caught before ducking back into the pocket.

"I swear that he was in the cage when I left it with my trunk" Albus exclaimed as he scooped the ferret from his pocket, keeping him close to his chest so that he couldn't jump away "how'd he get out?"

"Maybe he's smarter then we give him credit for?" Mitch guessed as he gently scratched the ferret behind the ears, which he seemed to enjoy thoroughly. Knox let out a hoot before nipping Mitchell's earlobe, which caused him to let out a pain filled yelp.

"Ouch! Knox!" he exclaimed as he rubbed his sore earlobe. Knox simply ruffled his feathers a bit before giving another proud hoot.

"I think he's jealous" Albus commented with an amused grin as he began to dig into the food he had placed onto the plate. Callidus occasionally sneaking in and nibbling up the scraps. The food had been cooked to perfection, Albus's mind kept wondering if he'd ever stop eating the delicious banquet, and that if he didn't stop soon he'd end up being splattered all over the place. Soon most of the children had finished their meals and were now idly chatting with one another, and the ones who still hadn't finished where pretty close or were too full to try.

The headmistress snapped her fingers once more and the leftovers that were on the plate before quickly vanished to reveal a perfectly clean plate. All of the plates and trays of food that were set out before them changed into a mouth watering array of sweet deserts that were now laid out before the gaping first years, while the rest of the children just laughed at their expressions. Albus's eyes where once again drawn to Mitch's plate, but unlike before, it was now piled with delicious sweet treats of all kinds. Albus's already gaping mouth opened even wider before he spoke.

"I thought you said you weren't hungry!?" he questioned.

"Oh you tell me you wouldn't want to eat any of this, besides, you can't talk, you ate half the banquet before and now look!" he retorted as he gestured wildly to Al's plate. Albus looked to the cutlery, only just realising that he had unconsciously begun to take a couple pieces of chocolate smothered cake, six cinnamon rolls, two sugar-quills sticking up from the top of each, and a large scoop of strawberry ice-cream.

"Your gonna get a cavity from all that sugar" Mitch continued with a smirk.

"Not before you do" Albus replied as he dug into his meal.

Albus was really surprised when Mitch finished his plate before he did. Al wasn't sure how much time it took for his friend to finish it but he could have sworn that it was under a minute. Callidus mean while was chewing on more sugar violet beans that Albus put into the pocket he was hiding in. Al gave himself a mental warning about feeding this many sugared treats to his furry companion. The shop owner said that he could have almost anything but Albus wasn't so sure, better to be safe then sorry.

The young boy's mind kept wandering over to the fact that he was finally here. Finally here at Hogwarts with his many cousins and his brother and his new found friends. But what impacted him the most, as he ate the overly sweet strawberry ice-cream, was that he needn't worry about the sorting anymore. He didn't have to be afraid about being put into Slytherin anymore. All the stress and tension that had been building up these past few hours were finally dissipating, leaving him in a far more relaxed state than he had been in.

It was a few more minutes before he finished the delectable treats, and just like before, the plates where once again cleaned with a simple snap of the headmistress's frail fingers as she stood up from her seat.

"As you all know, I am headmistress Mcgonagall" she stated, her voice firm and projected. No one dared to interrupt. "As previously stated, we will now have the announcements." You all know from your Hogwarts letters that the restricted section of our library is now open to those students of year six and upward. Although you are only promoted to read from the restricted section inside the library and you must also show the librarian the book which you have chosen. Furthermore, all students of year six and up may not share the borrowed books with students under the years of six, even if both are in the same reading area of the library. If one of you is caught doing this you will have your restricted section rights taken away and other serious consequences"

Albus shrugged that off his list of things to do at Hogwarts. He'd rather spend his days at Hogwarts with as little punishments as he could get.

"On another note" she continued "this year we will be starting up a duelling club, run by our very own professor Longbottom"

Neville stood from his chair and a thunderous amount of cheering and clapping erupted that it felt to Al like his eardrums were about to burst. Though it seemed Mitch was having a harder time because he had his eyes clenched shut and hands over his ears. Mcgonagall seemed to have had enough of the ruckus and raised her hand, it wasn't even a second before all the children silenced themselves. Mitch heaved a sigh and slumped in his chair with utter relief, the shouts and cheers combined with the clapping had been too much for his ears.

"Now, you may not enter the duelling club without permission from your parents or legal guardians, we will be handing out forms in the mail tomorrow" Mcgonagall stated once they had calmed down.

"You gonna join?" Mitchell asked with a whisper.

"Yep, you?"

"Probably"

Albus could hear many people ask the same question from along the table, and even more murmurs of agreement.

"And our last announcement for tonight is that he have our new transfiguration professor, please give a warm welcome to Teddy Lupin!" she announced, gesturing to a now standing Teddy Lupin.

As the students began to cheer, Albus's mouth dropped open into a gape, along with the now stunned Fred and Roxanne, who had stopped their silent argument to stare in awe at the newly named transfiguration professor. Mitch didn't really know what to think, seeing as he had never met him before, but Victoire held a knowing smirk on her face. Teddy caught Albus's gape and gave an unnoticeable wink to him before he sat back in his seat.

Once again, they were silenced by the headmistress as she began to speak.

"Now, I suggest you all get plenty of rest. If the house prefects would kindly lead the students to their respective areas" she asked. As the chatter once again resumed, two people from each table began to stand. There was a boy from Griffindor that Albus didn't recognise, but the last one from his house was shocking for the first year, Victoire.

"I didn't know you were house prefect, congratulations" Albus said warmly to his cousin as she toyed with her badge that was clipped to the inside of her robes. She gave a smile, but before she could reply, another surprise presented itself.

James came running from where he was siting with his friends, skidding to a stop just in front of Albus's chair as he panted for a moment, trying to catch his breath before he spoke to their redheaded perfect.

"Dear Vicky, don't suppose you would know what the password would be for the portrait, it's important" James huffed, earning a stony glare from his cousin before she spoke.

"First of all, don't call me Vicky! And second..." she then leaned over and whispered into his ear, which he gave quick nods to before unexpectedly snatching Al by is arm and tugged him out of his seat, proceeding to rush him out and into the hallway. They made various lefts and rights that Al could only barely remember where he had come from. It was a couple more lefts and rights until they had come to the moving staircases that they had both heard so much about. Albus stared in awe as the staircases moved and rotated to make new pathways to different doorways and hallways. James snapped him out of his trance as he dragged him up one of the staircases and waited near the end as it began to change its destination.

"Where are we going?" Albus asked as he gazed at the changing stairs.

"Griffindor common-room" he announced as he tapped his foot on the ground impatiently.

"But if where going there, why didn't we just wait with Victoire?"

"You ask too many questions"

The stair case came to a slow stop and Al was once again rushed up the stairs by his impatient brother. It was only a matter of seconds after they got off that the staircase began to move again. The two now stood in front of a large portrait the size of a large door. The portrait had a very, very plump lady on the front in a wedding dress, her long black hair done into curls and braids. Albus guessed this was the fat lady that James had told him about who guards (didn't know what else to call her) the entrance to the Griffindor common-room.

"Password?" she asked, her tone indifferent and bored, probably tired of asking the same question over and over again. Albus couldn't blame her.

"Black boggarts" James stated firmly. The fat lady nodded and the portrait began to slowly open, revealing a sort of hole which James forced Albus through, following suit as quickly as he could before the picture closed itself after them.

The young first year stopped dead in his tracks, gazing intently around the warmly coloured room. There where two arm chairs and one big couch with many cushions seated in front of the now roaring fire place. There was also many moving pictures set upon the scarlet coloured walls, most content to stay within their own picture frame but others moving about frame to frame to chat to the other pictures. Albus was completely dumbfounded, his emerald eyes wide as he continued to survey the room. He had dreamt of seeing the Griffindor common room that his brother mentioned fondly about so often that he needed to leave the room at one point to stop himself from squealing when James talked about it.

"Albus" James called.

Albus turned around and as soon as he was completely facing his older brother, James lunged at him.

Albus expected one of three things to happen: A.) James punched him in the face.

B.) James tackled him to the ground.

Or lastly, C.) James got him into headlock and gave him a nuggie.

He didn't really expect this.

Albus braced himself and clenched his eyes shut, waiting for pain, the carpeted floor, or knuckles rubbing quickly across his skull. What he got was the feeling of two arms wrapped around him with a hand tussling his jet black hair back into its unmanageable state and being pulled close to his brother. Albus loosened the hold on his eyelids but still kept them closed for a moment, simply getting used to the feeling before finally opening them fully. Indeed he was getting hugged by his older sibling, James's left arm coiled around him and brought Al against him. James's right hand was undoubtedly ruffling his hair, the straight black turned into unmanageable threads. His head rested against his brother's chest, his heart a comforting drumbeat sounding through his rib-cage. It was a moment before Albus reached out with his arms and returned the gesture with a hug of his own, a small smile making itself apparent across his face.

"Sorry Al" he heard James say. Albus recognised the feeling of a tear being absorbed into his shirt.

"For what?"

"You know, all the teasing about you being in Slytherin. I didn't mean it, honestly, I was just trying to rile you up" he answered, guilt apparent in his voice as he held Albus more tightly. "I probably just ruined the best day of your life with all the worry I put you through. Oh look at me, I'm turning into a softy"

"It's alright, you didn't ruin today, and it's your job to annoy me, your my big brother remember?" Albus chuckled as he moved his head so he could look up to James. He wasn't crying but his warm brown eyes were glistening, and there was a sort of wet trail left by the single tear he had shed.

"No, that's not what a brother is for, a brother is supposed to support his little brother, not continuously tease him until he's full of dread during the sorting" he replied, his voice lacking in the charisma that was usually abound "seriously, I'm sorry, can you forgive me?"

"Ok, who are you and what have you done with the real James?!" Albus retorted in a shocked voice. He wasn't used to all this gushy-ness coming from his brother, it surprised him to say the least.

"Really? So I'm not the real James, well is this something he would do?" James laughed as he quickly exchanged the hug to get Albus into a head lock, scraping his knuckles across the first year's head in a way he was all to familiar with. Albus laughed as he tried to wiggle free, hands pulling on James's arm in hopes to pry himself from the older siblings gasp.

"So am I the real James or not?!" James asked though his own laughter.

"Yes you are, now cut it out!" Al retorted as he struggled harder. James chuckled and quickly let go, making Al stumble a bit before he regained his balance and turned back to his brother, a playful glare plastered to his face as they both laughed a bit.

"So anyway" James started once he got his laughter under control, regaining as much composer as he could muster before speaking in his unnaturally solemn voice "again, I'm sorry for being such a jerk, and I hope you can forgive me"

"I already have" Albus smiled as a look of relief spread across his brother's face, the guilt he had felt before disappearing, if not completely.

"So, seeing as Vicky isn't here, I'll show you to your dorm" James offered as he started to move towards a set of stairs leading up. Albus began to follow before James turned back to him "oh, and by the way, if you tell anyone this ever happened, I will need to kill you"

Albus rolled his eyes as he chuckled, and with that, the two made there way up to the first year's dormitory.

**Authors note: **I know, I know what your all thinking, you all must be angry for making such a common choice, but I promise I can still make this story interesting, I promise I can.

Anyway, once again if you have any questions, please review them, even if you don't have questions review them anyway, I love to know what people are thinking and I'm open for constructive criticism :)

Thanks for all the reviews so far and I shall try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible, until then R&R, have a great day (or night) everyone :D


	6. Chapter 5: writing with fire

**Authors note: **I LIVE! So sorry that I haven't been able to update as often as I would like, and I'm really sorry but this is gonna basically be a filler chapter, I'm so sorry! As you all know, I don't own anything except my plot and OC's. Please don't use them without permission.

So without further interruption, let's get on with the story.

**Chapter 5: writing with fire**

James led him up the stairs and into the first year dormitory. Once again Albus simply needed a moment to take in the surroundings. The red velvet curtains where amazing to see, the golden rims adding for extra effect. The crimson carpeted floor looked almost as stunning as the curtains, giving the area a nice warm feeling as the young Griffindor continued to look around in awe.

James scoffed and rolled his eyes, though he had to admit that the first time he came here he had done the same thing. He swore under his breath that it had been an hour before his younger brother stopped, though in reality it was only three minutes.

"So this is where we stay until Christmas holidays?" Al asked, though more to himself than to James.

"Yep, it's a lot to take in over night, but you get used to it pretty fast" James replied as he made his way over to one of the red blanketed beds, which confused Albus a bit as he thought that the second years were up stairs further. The elder boy practically read his mind as he began to answer.

"First and second year students share a dormitory, so do the third and forth years, and so on and so forth" James stated as he began to unload his trunk that had undoubtedly been taken up by the house elves that worked at Hogwarts "you better choose a bed now, otherwise everyone else will come up and take all the good ones"

Albus quickly remembered the bed that Victoire had instructed him to go to, letting the memory flood back into his mind and he made his way to said bed.

The bed was pretty big for a single sized bed, the wooden head board seemed to be made out of mahogany, judging by the colour. It had two wooden lions carved in the middle with simpler, interactive designs surrounding the two as they seemed to growl at each other. Golden fern designs wear imprinted onto the rosy red quilt, and to top it all off there were two reddish brown pillows outlined in more crimson red.

Albus could swear this bed was fit for royalty, especially when he noticed how soft the mattress seemed to be.

"Hey James" Albus called.

"Speaking" James replied in a singsong voice, which caused Al to roll his eyes, a light smile playing on his face.

"Do you know where I can find my trunk?"

"It will be brought up by the elves when the others get here"

"What's taking them so long anyway?"

"Well, you know the other prefect we have, aside Victoire?" Al nodded, remembering the boy that had stood up somewhere down the Griffindor table. He didn't catch much of his face, but he did remember he had curly strawberry red hair.

"Yah, well his name is Cory Limple, in his last year, he was also a prefect my first year, and it took us hours to get here because he thought it was a good idea to take the longest route so the first years could get a look at the school. The problem was we were all so tired that we didn't even remember anything he told us and got lost the second day, he's like a bloody muggle tour guide!" James went on, a frustrated look coming over his face at the simple memory of it.

"Mum said your not supposed to swear anymore" Albus reminded.

"What she doesn't know wont hurt her, or you for that matter" He said, a warning laced into the words as he spoke them, practically telling Al '_Tell mum and I'll prank you for a week_'.

Albus made a mental note not to mention it in front of his mother as being pranked for any amount of time just wasn't worth it in his eyes.

A small wiggle from his robe pocket alerted his attention to Callidus, who was just making his way out of the young boy's pocket. Al made to quickly grab him but the nimble ferret was already out of his robe and scurrying under his bed. Albus gave a frustrated sigh as he bent down so he could look under the blasted thing.

"What are you doing?" James asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Cal ran under the bed" Albus replied, quickly looking back at his brother before turning his raven haired head back under said (in his opinion) item of royalty. Just as he was about to lay on his stomach to get a better look, out came Callidus, his small jaws latched onto something that he couldn't quite make out until he was in full view. The small ferret clung onto a big, wide present raped in green and blue paper. Cal quickly made his way back under the bed and within a few moments, returned with (this came as no shock to Albus) a box of every flavoured beans, a bright red bow planted neatly on top, and a letter stuck to the side with the young Griffindor's initial signed into the cream coloured paper.

"Your kidding, as if you need anymore presents" James groaned from his position behind Al, making the eleven year old jump in surprise "god Al, can you get anymore paranoid?"

"That is the unfortunate side effect of being pranked twelve hours a day on a weekly basis" Al countered. James scoffed at that before taking a seat on his bed. Al let Callidus climb up his outstretched arm and sling himself around his neck, the small mammal's fur warm against his skin as he gently pried the letter off the box of beans. Al fingered the letter for a moment before opening it and pulling out its contents.

_Dear Albus_

_Happy birthday for yesterday! Sorry me and Teddy couldn't come, but we were... A bit side tracked. Anyway, we both wish you a happy birthday and can't wait to see you at Hogwarts, Teddy looks forward to teaching you. _

_And if your wondering why Teddy didn't tell you he was given the job of transfiguration teacher, he wanted it to be a surprise so, surprise!_

_Sincerely from Vicky and Ted_

_P.S. Please tell your brother that he is a nosy git and to keep his noise out of other peoples social lives! Thank you._

Albus smiled at the letter, happy that he had such a lovely family and excited to start his lessons tomorrow. He folded the letter and stuffed it into his robe pocket, turning his attention to the present. Fingers began to rip and tear, green and blue wrapping flying into the air then gently cascading around him, settling on the crimson floor.

James curiously peaked over Al's shoulder before letting a confused look come across his face.

"What is it?" he enquired, motioning to the un-wrapped gift.

Al looked back at him and held the item in front of his body to give James a better view of it. The present was a wide book with a emerald green cover, leafs in a lighter green outlined black near the right border. Clasped in Al's right left hand was a long, scarlet red quill with a golden yellow tip. The quill was warm to the touch, like it was radiating from within it's slim, complexed form. Al himself was grinning ear to ear, obviously ecstatic at the newest gifts that had been bestowed to him, though James couldn't really see why.

"Its a muggle art book" he stated happily as James took the book and began to flip through its oversized pages.

"For an art book, it's incredibly blank"

"They don't fill it with art, your supposed to draw in it"

"I think it's lame" James stated matter-of-factly as he handed it back and took the feather from Al's left hand "and why the hell did they give you a quill, you have plenty of the blasted things"

"I'd would have told you if I knew, but I don't" Al replied as he snatched the quill back, examining it and smoothening it back down with a small look of awe.

"And what owl did Vicky and Ted get that from? I don't know of any kind of owl that's that shade of red on their feathers"

Al ran his finger along its crimson rim in fascination, realisation dawning on him with a smile, his green eyes positively alight with excitement. James rolled his eyes as he plopped down onto his bed, Al usually got that look when he found out something that was (in his opinion) really cool, which turned out to be really boring for James "what now?"

"It's not a owl feather" Al replied matter-of-factly.

"Then what is it, genius?"

"It's a Phoenix feather"

That got James's attention as he sat up and plucked the quill from Al's grasp and let his eyes glide across it in mild curiosity "you sure? It could be a knock-off, plenty of people have sold these for a pretty penny only for the dimwit to end up with a fake"

"One way to find out" Al replied as he scanned the side table next to his bead before his green eyes landed on what he was looking for. A candle.

James seemed to catch on to what Al was thinking and handed back the quill, simultaneously pulling out his wand, fingering it for a minute before pointing it at the candle. Al quickly stood back as his brother cast the spell.

"_Incendio"_

The tip of the candle grew red hot before a small flickering flame lit itself on top, a small puff of smoke came from the tip of the heated mass.

Al felt the quill radiate more heat, pulsing it out into the room. He tentatively brought the end of the feathery part closer to the flame, inching it slowly towards the candle until it was mere inches from the small heat source. With one final thought, he extended his arm and brought the quill into the fire. The small flame did not burn the feather, the tip did not shrivel into blackened remains. Rather then the expected blackening of the item, it began to glow a radiant scarlet as Albus inched more of the quill feather inwards. The flame began to flicker and a quite spitting sound was made, the quill seemed to be absorbing the flame as it was sucked into the feathery part, increasing the glow and radiancy of the colour.

When Al pulled the quill away from the candle, the flame was no more, all that was left was the chard, smoking remains of the imbedded wick. Small droplets of melted wax made their way down the candle like little heated, cream coloured rain drops. Al admired the quill with a whole new sense of awe, as did James. The once crimson coloured quill was now a radiant scarlet, even amongst all the red in the room it stood out like a sore thumb.

"Well, it's not a fake" James said dismissively as he tried to keep up his too-cool-to-care attitude.

Al wasn't listening, too entranced with the glowing feather that all the noise that reached him was nothing but whispers in the background. He twirled it in his in-between fingers for a while, feeling the comforting warmth against his skin as his eyes lost themselves in the scarlet glow. Albus then began to absentmindedly trace shapes with quill, first a simple circle, then a smiley face, and a couple more shapes after that. Al was completely lost in his own universe marvelling at the feel of the quill against his finger tips and how it just felt nice to hold, let alone write.

"Al!"

The sudden shout from his brother brought him out of his daydream like state, he turned his eyes to James and gave him a questioning look. James just dumbly pointed to where he had been tracing shapes with the quill. Al cast his gaze to where he was pointing and let out a small yelp, jumping back away from the space that he had, accidentally, managed to set on fire.

The shapes Al had drawn where now fiery images, suspended in the air as the flames flickered and hissed like angry snakes. Cal let out a sharp squeak and shot under the pillow for cover. The fire made the smiley face and the circle the first year had drawn, along with what appeared to be a feather, along with a square and a lightning bolt.

Both children where completely stunned, not sure what would be the best approach to this situation, or any situation like this one for that matter.

"Al, put the quill down, now" James said slowly, too focused on the flames to even bother looking at his brother.

Al needed no further encouragement as he let the quill roll out of his fingers, dropping to the carpeted floor without a sound made. From the corner of his eye, Al watched as the quill lost it's radiant glow and it began to fade. As this happened, the spattering flames began to dwindle as well, becoming less and less wild as they where finally nothing more then dim glowing lines, before vanishing from existence as if they had never been there to begin with.

Callidus poked his head out from under the pillow, and upon seeing it was safe to come out, he scampered across the bed and clamped his teeth onto the box of beans and dragged it back to his apparent hiding spot.

"Al" James asked.

"Yes"

"You do realise that Cal just took your beans?"

"I think that we have bigger things to worry about then Multi flavoured beans" Al replied as he slowly picked the up the quill. Upon being touched, the feather began to glow the same scarlet glow, though it was considerably duller then the last time. Al quickly put the feather down on the night stand next to the bed. The glow was once again quelled.

"Well I don't know about you but I'm gonna have a shower and hit the hay" James tiredly stated as he walked a door on the far left of the bedroom and began to open the door before a sudden thought struck Albus.

"Hey James" he called.

James turned back to him with a cocked eyebrow.

"How come you had my acceptance letter to Hogwarts in your room?" he wanted to know.

"Oh, that, well truthfully it came the night before, but I hid it in my room" James replied with a grin.

"Why?!"

"Because I wanted to see your reaction in the morning when you thought it didn't come, unfortunately you just became silent and depressed, and that was boring" and with those final words, he went to have a shower before bed.

Al waited for him to finish before he took one himself before changing into his PJ's and climbed into bed. By that time Victoire and Mitch, along with all the other first years had finally arrived, all looking thoroughly exhausted, and Vicky had a very long discussion with Cory about the right time of day tours of the castle should be given at. And with the final goodnights given, and Callidus safely in his cage (and the violet beans out of reach), Al sunk into the soft bed, closed his eyes, and dreamt of his whole family at Hogwarts, happy and smiling.

**Authors note:**ok, a lot of Internet problems and a lot more creativity blocks stopped me from posting sooner, that I apologise for.

As usual, if you have any questions, please Review, or even if you don't have questions please review, it helps with these coming out faster and I'll be internally grateful. So see you next chapter, and to all a good night :)


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